Dallastown Area High School 1930-1959
In the following paragraphs, interviews were taken with people who served in someway to Dallastown Area High School in the 1930's to the 1950's. The questions asked all pertained to the high school. Some of the information which was received was how the students got along with each other, how they dressed, what were school sports like and others. The responses were rather interesting.
When Mr. Clair Trout was asked where Dallastown Hgih School was, his response was interesting. He explained that Dallastown High School and Dallastown Area High School were two different schools. "Dallastown High School was where the Charles Street Gym is now. I was over there as assistant principle. Now, they were in the process of forming a jointure. When we formed the jointure, then York Township, Yoe Borough, Dallastown Borough, Jacobus Borough, Loganville Borough, and Springfield Township formed what was called the York Imperial School District. It was the only school district in the state of Pennsylvania with a foreign name to it. That formed the new jointure, but there was no building. Dallastown Area High School was then built. Kids from Yoe and York Township came to Dallastown."
This was a big change for the kids, there was some conflict between the kids from different schools that helped form them into cliques. Mr. Trout said that people from York High stood up at a Dallastown football game and led a York High cheer. People would come to a concert and they would count the number of kids in the chorus that came from Dallastown and the number of kids from the other schools. Clothing and other things also separated them.
When Mr. Carl Arnold was asked how the students at Dallastown Area High School dressed he stated, "There were some boys who came to school every day in shirts and ties, others wore jeans. Short skirts for girls were popular at the time so there was a certain length that the skirts had to be." When Mr. Trout was asked the same question he laughed, "It wasn't how they dressed, it's how they had to dress. Girls were girls and boys were boys. I recall once I sent a girl home for wearing rouge lipstick. Another for wearing colots. They are pants that look like a skirt. There were boys who had facial hair and long hair that wasn't acceptable. There was one boy with long hair whose picture wasn't put in the yearbook for graduation."
Mr. Joseph Rojahn stated that the students of Dallastown Area High School rode buses to get to school. They also walked there, depending on where they lived in regards to the school. Mr. Trout was asked if the kids were involved in many sports and he replied, "Sports were pretty much the same as they are now. More girl sports have been added. There was football, track, baseball, and basketball. There weren't any soccor or field hockey teams. Basketball rules for girls were different. There were six girls on a team. The entire court was divided into six sections, three on each half of the court. Two girls were in each section, they couldn't cross there lines for the entire game.
When I asked what the high school dances were like Mr. Trout said, "There weren't too many. At that time sock hops were a popular thing. After a game kids would go out on the gym floor in their socks and have a sock hop. Not all kids went around in socks some wore sneakers. But they were limited on what type of footwear they could wear. Formal dances may have been held in the lobby. The prom was an all night thing. Once you decided to say, you would stay the whole night. The girls didn't like it after a while because they wanted more time to get ready. We hired beauticians to come in and help the girls with their makeup."
Mr. Arnold told me, "There was no selection of food in the cafeteria. There was a prepared meal every day. Or there was a sandwich, which wasn't too great. They were maybe bologna sandwiches. The students ate the prepared meal or brought a packed lunch. Mr. Trout said, "The menu was announced a week ahead. You bought a meal ticket and everyone had the same meal."
There are many changes from then to now. Mr. Arnold pointed out that computers were the biggest changes. The high school kids did not have access to them for a while. Technology has really improved. Also there were graduation requirements. Each student had to have so many subjects completed to graduate. Cafeteria food, sports, clothing, dances, and cliques have all changed extremely. And there are yet more changes to come.
