by Rick Kilby from the Summer 2014 edition of Reflections Magazine
As students throughout Central Florida return to school, here’s a sampling of then and now images from a few of Orlando’s historic schools.
Students congregate outside the entrance of Orlando High School, now Howard Middle School, in 1947.
Memorial High School opened in 1922 and became a junior high school five years later. Dedicated to the “Orange County Boys who gave their lives in the World War”, the Spanish Colonial Revival structure was torn down in 1961.
The 1945 Cherokee Junior High School Glee Club presents “When the Moon Rises.” Cherokee School, designed by Orlando architect Howard M. Reynolds, opened in 1927 as a junior high school. Reynolds designed many Orlando area schools in the early 20th century.
Central Florida architectural historian John Dalles has underscored the rich architectural details used in the Mediterranean Revival-style Cherokee School building, including a ceramic torch in relief symbolizing enlightenment, arched doorways, and omniscient owls, symbols of wisdom.
The Orlando Public School Building was constructed in 1906 at the location of a previous school, which burned down a year earlier. It was utilized as a school for 16 years, according to the book “Lost Orlando” by former History Center researchers Tana Moshier Porter and Stephanie Gaub Antequino. The building was then used as Orlando City Hall from 1924 to 1958. It also became police headquarters briefly before being torn down in 1972.
According to historian Steve Rajtar, Kaley Elementary was built in 1936 by the federal Works Progress Administration using eight-pound bricks that had previously paved Kaley Street. Designed by Orlando architect Maurice Kressley, Kaley remains in use today by Orange County Public Schools.
Like Cherokee School, Marks Street Elementary was also designed by Howard M. Reynolds, It opened in 1925. Below: Like the former Delaney Elementary, Marks Street is used as a senior center by the City of Orlando today.
Another Howard M. Reynolds design, Princeton Elementary opened in 1926. The College Park school is still serves elementary students today.
The three-story Orlando Grammar School opened in 1915 on Magnola Avenue (now 325 Palmetto Ave.) and later referred to as the Magnolia School. While Orlando High was begin built in the 1920s, it served as a high school and later as Orlando Vocational School from 1938 until 1981. The building burned down in October 1982.