EAST HIGH SCHOOL Alumni: No new name

Don't terminate the East High School tradition, alumni plead.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Although some favor naming the new high school to be built on the East Side after architect P. Ross Berry, East High School alumni want the East High name to be preserved.
"P. Ross Berry is long overdue to be recognized," said John Jamison, an East High School alumnus, who suggested naming the new East Middle School after Berry to the board of education Tuesday.
"I believe the school should be named after this black man who gave so much to this community," said Steffon Jones, a local Civil War re-enactor in the Union Colored Regiment.
Jamison noted, however, that the long tradition of East High School should not be terminated.
"Although it was closed in '98 [when it was converted to a middle school], the tradition still goes on. The school has a long history of Golden Bear spirit," Jamison said.
Berry's work
Among the places Berry, born in Lawrence County, Pa., helped to build as an architect and brick mason are the original Rayen School building at 20 W. Wood St., where school board offices are now located; the Mahoning County Courthouse; First Presbyterian Church; National City Bank Building; and Tod Mansion. He died in 1917 after working for 40 years in the city.
Former city Councilman Pete Starks, an East High alumnus, called for preserving the East High School name and naming another new school building after Berry.
"Board members will carefully evaluate all names that will be presented to the business committee and the board as a whole," said Board President Lock P. Beachum Sr., adding that the matter will be on the board's agenda Sept. 9.
Groundbreaking
"I'm hoping that, when we break ground for these schools, we will have the names for them," he added. The groundbreaking for the new East Middle School is set for 10 a.m. Sept. 16.
"I'm sorry to say that we never heard about him in our history classes," Paulette Smith, treasurer of the East High School Alumni Association, said of Berry. She added that she would be proud to have a new building named after him. "But that new high school, we want it to be named East High School, East High Central, East High something, because that is us. That is our history," she said.
As far as the alumni are concerned, "Everyone wants East High to remain East High," said Deborah Jones, acting secretary for the East High School Alumni. She said she wouldn't oppose naming the new high school auditorium or library for Berry.
milliken@vindy.com