Dennison High School

Side A: An October 23, 1927, ceremony was held for the laying of the cornerstone for the Dennison High School Building. It opened in the fall of 1928 and was called “Angel’s Castle” in honor of school superintendent William Hiram Angel. The building was designed by J.K. Griffin, an architect from Canton, Ohio, in a style that has the elements of Collegiate Gothic that was popular for school and college buildings during the early twentieth century. The distinguishing architectural features of the entrance towers enhance the school’s prominent location above the street level. Dennison High School is an important visual landmark in the community, as its towers are visible from the downtown area and surrounding neighborhoods. It has retained its integrity of location, materials, design, and association and conveys the early twentieth century ideals of education that the original design of the building was intended to inspire. (Continued on other side) Side B: (Continued from other side) The interior of Dennison High School contained spaces devoted to manual training and “household” arts to supplement traditional classrooms. Dennison High School also participated in an innovative educational experiment in the 1930s. Known as the Primrose School, it was a special “school within a school” for special needs students. The program lasted until 1954. The most architecturally significant interior space was the original auditorium. It featured first floor and balcony seating which faced the stage and beyond that the gymnasium floor and bleachers. This arrangement allowed for concerts, plays, basketball tournaments, and Miss Clayland pageants to be held there. With the consolidation of schools in 1965 the building became a junior high and then an intermediate school. On February 1, 2006, the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior.