To Monument Avenue
The Collegiate School for Girls outgrew its home on West Franklin, and very shortly after the School opened,…new quarters would be necessary if the School was to function and to expand to meet the needs of the increasing enrollment….A site was selected on Monument Avenue and a new building was contracted….Enrollment rose, and Miss Baker purchased a forty-foot lot just to the east of 1619 Monument Avenue for a playground. About a year later she bought another forty-foot lot to the east of that. This latter site was for the construction of a second three-story building to house the primary department….This second building was begun in 1920.
~from Fifty Years of Collegiate: Echoes from 1915 to 1965
And that second building at 1617 still stands today.
The photo above, taken in the 1920s, shows students facing off in an intense tennis match on the courts between the Town School buildings at 1617 and 1619 Monument Avenue. Several buildings on Monument Avenue are visible in the background. The photo below shows the same sidewalk which is visible behind the tennis players along Monument Avenue. Although 1619 Monument Avenue was demolished, this sidewalk is still a reminder of the link between the past and the present.
Map | 1133 West Franklin | Helen Baker | Residence Department | Pageant
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