Main Street School
North Syracuse High School was built in 1925, with new sections being added to the back of the building in 1936. The high school was eventually transformed into Main Street Elementary School and contained Kindergarten thru Fifth Grade classes. The school closed at the end of the 1982-1983 school season. It remained closed for several years before it became an "Early Education Center".
The following photos are courtesy of Thomas Mafrici, the Cicero Town Historian. The first photo shows Main Street School in 1925, the second shows the attending students of that year. The two bottom photos show a program from 1936.
Main Street School also had a spectacular playground behind the building. There was a basketball court, a baseball (or kickball) field, monkey bars, a swinging horse, the thing that spins around (what was that thing called?), and the infamous happy-faced slide. All of these things have been removed and most of the playground is now a parking lot. I have no idea where the rest of the equipment is, but the slide has been found in the playground of the Budget Inn on South Bay Road in North Syracuse:
The next group of pictures are courtesy of Robert Crabtree, who was a teacher at Main Street Elementary School from 1977 to 1980.
The first three pictures are from inside a couple of Mr. Crabtree's classrooms.
The next couple of pictures were taken outside of Main Street School. The first was taken in front of the building, the second was from out back in the playground, and the third was taken in front of the former North Syracuse Library.
The next photo was taken inside the infamous Main Street School library.
The first two images below are newspaper articles concerning the retirement of long time principal, Ray Miller. The third image is a scan of the invitation to Mr. Miller's retirement dinner.
Now, I never thought I would see one of these again. This is a scan of a school lunch menu from April 1978. As if that weren't cool enough, the menu items were submitted by some Fifth Grade students at Main Street. So, that is why they include such delightful dishes as "Frighten French Fries", "Terrified Peaches" and "Leaping Corn".
Next up are some programs (printed as "dittos", obviously) from Main Street. The first two scans are of the front and inside of the 1978 Fifth Grade graduation program. The next two images are of the 1981 Fifth Grade graduation program. The last two images are of the 1982 Christmas Program.
On July 27, 1995 (12 years after we "graduated" from the building) my friend John and I went for a walk thru the halls of Main Street School. Of course, I had my video camera with me. Here are a couple of clips from that trip:
Click here to browse through some Main Street School merchandise for sale featuring the original Main Street School Lions logo.