MANSFIELD'S METAMORPHOSIS--
My Old Junior High School; another Poof!

You are looking at the remains (above) of my old, John Simpson Junior High School.  Demolition debris and the smoke stack from the old powerhouse are all that remain.  This view is looking straight East toward Bowman St., along West 4th St.

Here the view is looking generally Northwest through the 4th and Bowman intersection.  I entered Simpson in 1954 from the W. 5th St., grade school--the old one.  A new W 5th St., grade school was constructed while I attended the old one.  The new one still stands but no longer serves as a grade school.

Let me try to recap this:  I started grade school in the "old" W. 5th St., building in the mid 1940s.  Grade school was 6 years in those days.

They finished construction on the new building right next door when I was about half way done with the old one.  We moved into the new one while I was in the 5th grade and they tore the old one down.

From there it was on to Simpson, one block south for most of my junior high school experience.  My family moved to the Madison area (a suburb of Mansfield) when I was in the 9th grade and I tagged along.

I started in the old Madison high school and finished in that same building shortly after a sparkling new addition was done.

Now that I think about it I haven't the foggiest idea where city kids now go to either grade school or junior high. 

Madison kids tend to wind up now out there on Grace St, finishing up via what is now known as a middle school and a high school, of course.

Trying to figure out their grade school alignment today makes my head hurt.