Salina Post proudly presents Flashback Friday in partnership with the Smoky Hill Museum. Enjoy a weekly tidbit of local history from the staff at Salina Post and the Smoky Hill Museum as we present “Salina-Flashback Fridays.”
By SALINA POST
Salina founders William A. Phillips, David Phillips, Alexander M. Campbell Sr., A.C. Spillman and James Muir set aside land on the 200 block of South Eighth Street for the city's first public school.
The location held the former Roosevelt-Lincoln Junior High School, and by 1868, the building proved too small for Salina's growing population.
In 1873, contractors built the first "Central" on a large block between Mulberry and Walnut Streets and Seventh and Eighth Streets.
A Mustang represented the school's spirit, acting as its mascot since its founding in the late 1800s, and remains today as Salina Central High School Mustangs.
Just four years later, the school made a $30,000 addition to include a high school in 1877, where before the single building served all grades.
In the 1880s, Salina continued to grow, adding multiple grade schools. Eventually, most residents knew Salina Central as a high school.
By 1900, contractors tore Salina Central down at Mulberry and Walnut Streets and built a new school at Seventh and Mulberry Streets, and renamed the building, Lincoln High School.
READ: Flashback Friday: Salina Post-Smoky Hill Museum- Vol. 8 Salina Opera House/United Building
Flashback Friday: Salina Post - Smoky Hill Museum - Vol. 8
Later, Lincoln High became known as the Grammar School or Junior High for seventh and eighth-grade students. Later, in 1909, Salina built Washington High School at Second and Mulberry Streets and served the community until 1952.
The new Salina High School opened in 1952, standing in its current location today on the southeast corner of Crawford and Front Streets. In 1971, the school was renamed Salina Central High School after the addition of Salina South High School.
Washington High's Ghost Tales
For years, tales circulated that a ghost haunted Salina’s Washington High School theatre. When the building was razed in 1972, the ghost supposedly moved to Central High.
In 1949, Joyce Diller performed the lead in the Washington High production of "Death Takes a Holiday," in which Death spares her character after an auto accident. In a case of life imitating art, Joyce’s car collided with a gasoline truck the following year.
Tragically, Joyce did not fare as well as her character.
Shortly after her death, students saw her face in the curtains and felt her presence on the catwalks and in the lights. Skeptics claimed, however, that the supposed face in the curtain was just a water stain.
Joyce seems to be a benevolent spirit, as she helps actors with forgotten lines or keeps cast members from falling on stage. But sometimes, those who skip school are not treated so amicably.
A famous story claims that the stage curtains were moved from Washington to Central with Joyce in tow. This is unlikely, for the building remained used for theatre productions after the new high school was built in 1952.