Oak Cliff Schools — 1916
by Paula Bosse
Oak Cliff High School
by Paula Bosse
Here are a few photos and drawings of Oak Cliff schools from the 1916 inaugural yearbook of OAK CLIFF HIGH SCHOOL, seen above, which opened in 1915 at 9th & Beckley (it was later renamed Adamson High School). The previous school — the Oak Cliff Central School/Central High School (10th & St. George) — is seen below, obscured by trees. Most of the students in the new school would have also attended the old school.
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JOHN H. REAGAN SCHOOL, 9th & Llewellyn — built in 1905. The caption to this photo is: “Nine temporary rooms nestled behind this mother building.” (I wrote about this school previously in the post “John H. Reagan Elementary, Oak Cliff’s ‘West End School’ — 1905.”)
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JAMES BOWIE SCHOOL, Lancaster & 7th — built in 1907.
The photo of Bowie below appeared in The Dallas Morning News in November 1915.
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JAMES STEPHEN HOGG SCHOOL, 1135 Ballard — built in 1911.
Below, a photo of the new school, as it appeared in The Dallas Morning News in September 1911.
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(NEW) WINNETKA SCHOOL, S. Edgefield & Ruxton (later Page) — built in 1916 (under construction when the 1916 OCHS yearbook was published).
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Back to Oak Cliff High School. When the school opened in 1915, its first principal was William Hardin Adamson. He was principal for 19 years. Soon after his death in 1935, the school was renamed in his honor. He had been an educator in the state of Texas for 50 years and was apparently very popular with students.
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UPDATED: Thanks to the person who commented below to identify the old Oak Cliff High School. Here are a few “candid” photos from this 1916 yearbook which show the old school as well as the new one under construction.
Goodbye, old school — hello, new school.
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Sources & Notes
All images (except the two Dallas Morning News photos) are from the 1915-1916 edition of The Oak, the yearbook of Oak Cliff High School. (Incidentally, if you are an Ancestry subscriber and are unable to find this yearbook, it’s because it is listed there as being “South Oak Cliff High School.” A lot of the OCHS yearbooks are mislabeled as SOC.)
More info on the history of this school can be found on p. 43 of Education in Dallas: Ninety-Two Years of History, 1874-1966 by Walter J. E. Schiebel.
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Copyright © 2023 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
Flashback : Dallas 
Paula, the second building “obscured by trees” in the post was the Oak Cliff School prior to the building of Adamson in 1916.
Professor Adamson was originally Superintendent of the Oak Cliff Schools when it was a separate city from 1901-1903. In 1904 he was named principal of Oak Cliff High and served 31 years until his death.
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Thank you! I’ve edited the text and added a few more photos of the old school.
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My Mom graduated from Adamson, class of 1947. I found her in the 1946 and 1947 yearbooks. In 1945 she found her father who had committed suicide, leaving she and her mother alone, so they moved from the quiet country where they had a garden and sold vegetables on the side of the road to “Big D.” Having lost her husband and not having any income, Granny (born in 1895) worked at Eckerd’s and sold Avon to put food on the table. She later worked at Sears. Her husband who had taken his life had been in the psych hospital in the Hollywood area of Dallas, which hasn’t been there for a long time. It was wartime and he had 3 sons in WWII. Depression got him. Anyway lots of rich Dallas history. My Mom went on to graduate from Methodist Hospital’s nursing program in 1951. She attended from 1948 – 1951. She is still with us and has shared some stories from those days. I have them all in my notes, as well as several photos of the hospital and student nursing quarters if anyone wants them.
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What an amazing story… she lifted your family.
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I went to James Bowie and Adamson.
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[…] “OAK CLIFF SCHOOLS — 1916” […]
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Do you have anything from the current Mount Saint Michael Catholic School in Oak Cliff from the 1960s? Back when it was a All Girls Boarding School?
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Do you have more photos of the old Winnetka school?
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