Waggener High School - RingBrothersHistory.com

The Voice of St. Matthews, January 1, 1959: St. Matthews area restless in 1958St. Matthews area restless in 1958People seek improvements in government, recreation, education, and public facilitiesThere were marked signs of restlessness in the St. Matthews area in 1958. The people were no longer satisfied with thingsas they were, and they began to cast about for improvements.* * *This restlessness manifested itself in several areas—in, government, in recreation, in education, and in public facilities.People began to ask questions. What about Metropolitan Government? Why don’t we have an adequate library? Why can’twe get more park and playground space? Why are our post offices antiquated and crowded? Can’t we improve our schools?At the end of the year, many of the questions were still questions. But far more of them had been answered and acted upon.Get library and park: Committee after committee was organized, and with impressive results. By the end of the year, thecommunity had a new library, a new park, another recreation center, a new post office, and a new education system. Therewas no Metropolitan Government, but people were at least talking about one.St. Matthews was saddened by the loss of its Mayor, Jim Noland, who retired, and by the annexation by Louisville of partof its business district.But these were relatively minor setbacks compared to the general trend of advance and progress.New church buildings went up, business expanded, and new Cities were formed. St. Matthews area teams captured titleafter title— in track, swimming, baseball, football, and basketball.Bad news is big news: because it was bad news, the greatest news story of the year was the annexation of part of the St.Matthews business district.In July, the Kentucky Court of Appeals handed down its final ruling, giving Louisville the right to annex 269 businesses,homes and apartments out of 3,068 in St. Matthews.But while Louisville won only about 10 per cent of St. Matthews’ territory, this 10 per cent was centered in the downtownarea along Lexington Road and Frankfort Avenue, and accounted for about 25 per cent of St Matthews’ annual revenue($34,000 out of $140,000).***St. Matthews’ new Mayor; Bernard Bowling, who succeeded Jim Noland on Oct. 1 after eight years, then came up with aplan that had the community on fire for several weeks.Seeks Metro Government: He asked Louisville to postpone the annexation. In return, his administration would cooperatein setting up a Metropolitan Government for Louisville and Jefferson County.The City of Shively backed up St. Matthews with a resolution supporting the idea of Metro. Eight of 10 St. Matthews areaMayors interviewed also lent their support to Metro.The St. Matthews Jaycees, determined to strike while the iron was hot, set up a Metro Government seminar at WaggenerSchool for Dec. 3, and invited as principal speaker O. W. Campbell, County manager for Dade County, (Miami) Florida.Sabotage by Louisville: More than 250 community leaders attended the seminar. But by then, a lot of the steam had goneout of the program. For Louisville in the meantime, with its leaders mouthing the most pious, and yet the most cynical, hypocrisiesabout friendship and. mutual understanding, went through with the annexation, effective Dec. 1.Mayor Bowling insisted that Metro Government was still a good idea, but it had a hollow sound. Louisville’s cynical movehad done what it was apparently designed to do—stripped him of any effective support and laid the idea of Metro Governmentpeacefully to rest for a while.But while the professional politicians were able to scotch progress in local government, they were unable to get their handson local education, and great reforms were taking place.New education program: The County Board of Education announced a dramatic new program. This program, to be effectedover a period of several years, will offer five different programs for pupils with different needs and abilities.At the head of the list will be the advanced students, who will get an accelerated course of study culminating in a tough,four-year high school program that will include four years of English, three each of Science and Math, two each of SocialStudies and Foreign Languages, one each of Humanities, Fine Arts, and Physical Education, and three of electives.That amounts to 20 units, four more than that required by the State.***The trainable program will be for students who can’t learn to read. They will be taught useful skills and crafts. The educableprogram will be for slow learners who can learn to read, but must be allowed a more leisurely pace.