The other day, alert “06880” reader Sheila Flinn was reading a book she’d checked out from the Westport Library.
It had nothing to do with history. But suddenly, out slipped a postcard.
A very old postcard.
That’s the original Staples High School, on Riverside Avenue. Built in 1884 — and demolished in 1967 — it was located approximately where the Saugatuck Elementary School auditorium is today.
(The “new” Staples — today it’s the central section of Saugatuck El — was built in 1936. An addition, including the cafeteria and gym, was completed in 1948. In 1959 Staples’ North Avenue campus opened, and the 2 buildings on Riverside — the one shown above, and the newer one — became Bedford Junior High. The building that was previously Bedford Junior was remade into Kings Highway Elementary School. Got all that?)
This is the clearest photo I’ve encountered of the original building. But it may not be entirely accurate. I never saw an image of the school that included a bell tower.
The photo was taken no later than 1913. We know, because the message side of the postcard shows this:
“I hope to see you this summer,” wrote Grace Marvin. She sent the card — postmarked 6 p.m., June 2, 1913 — to George Miller, Box 3, “Huntington Sta., Long Island.”
Our original high school is long gone. But — for reasons we’ll never know — this 102-year-old postcard survived.
