Scottsdale High School 1964. Scottsdale Arizona

Title

Scottsdale High School 1964. Scottsdale Arizona

Artist

Connie Fox

Medium

Photograph - Outdoor Bw Film Photo

Description

Vintage black-and-white film photo, shot by me on my graduation day from Scottsdale High School, Scottsdale, Arizona, May 1964. This offset frontal landscape features the main building, now demolished, with its prominent roofline and white columns. Those columns have now been incorporated into the front of a condominium that occupies this site on Indian School Road, between Scottsdale Road and Buckboard.

Scottsdale High School opened in 1922, and closed in 1983 after the decision was made to put this parcel of land to a more lucrative use in the booming area. When I was a student here from 1962 to 1964, Scottsdale was known as The West's Most Western Town. The town slogan appeared on car license plates, and even our family Christmas card.

The mascot for Scottsdale High School was the Beaver. In 1922, the year the school opened, a dead beaver was found in a local canal. Our school colors were orange and black. One notable alumnus of the school was Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer, who signed with the Baltimore Orioles right out of high school. He was in the class ahead of mine and our star athlete. He excelled at every sport. When I saw him coming down the hall, I would position myself to brush against his letter jacket. Those were exciting times for Scottsdale High, and many former students still grieve its loss. We consider it a privilege to have graduated from this fine school, which we remember so fondly, and to have spent our high school years in such a fun and fascinating part of the country during simpler times.

As a sidenote, I would be remiss not to mention that my Class of 1964 would easily remember where we were when President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas on November 22, 1963. I was sorting mail in the teachers lunchroom in this very building when a classmate told me the president had been shot. At first I did not believe him. Then I rationalized: But he will survive. Presidents do not die. Then I remembered Abraham Lincoln and several others. Ironically I had history class next. We learned from our principal over the loudspeaker system installed in each classroom that the President had died. Everyone was stunned, as was the world. We were all dismissed to go home, where we stayed glued to our TV sets for days, before sadly resuming our studies.

Scottsdale's Old Town, where we spent many lunch hours eating and shopping, has been expanded, but is one of the few remnants of Scottsdale's western roots. In February, the city celebrates its heritage with an annual parade, Parada del Sol.

Photographed by me, the graduate, in May 1964 using slide film. Restored in 2014 and converted to urban black-and-white with a subtle burlap textured effect. That effect lends additional interest and helps compensate for certain problems inherent in a slide film image from that era.

Copyright 1964-2014 Connie Steitz Fox. All Rights Reserved. Please note: The watermark, if visible here, will not appear on your purchased artwork. Proceeds from the sale of this image will help benefit the Scottsdale Historical Society.

Featured in 3-A-Day Waiting Room Art, Premium FAA Artists, and Memories and Nostalgia, November 2014. Featured on the homepage of Weekly Fun For All Mediums, December 2014. Featured on the homepage of No Place Like Home, June 2019; USA Photographers, December 2019, and 500 Views, January 2020; Black and White Images, A Tree or Trees in Black and White, and Just Perfect, March 2022. My thanks! (Special thanks for the BRAVO!, Jenny Soper, administrator of No Place Like Home.)
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Framing suggestion: Try Slimwoods - Black/Silver frame and a white mat with black core. Watch this image come to life! This hangs in my office, and I love it!

Scottsdale High School 1964. Scottsdale Arizona by Connie Fox
The FAA watermark will not appear on your purchased artwork.

Uploaded

November 10th, 2014

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