Scenic Hills Breaks Ground to Decades of Building Young Minds

Sixty-one years ago today, construction crews broke ground on the new location for .  

In 1950, the decided it was time to build a new school program to keep up with the rapid and tremendous growth of the area. The board chose to construct a new school on a plot of ground over ten acres, just off Claremont Road.

The estimated cost for the building, which was at the time of modern construction, was nearly $493,000. The school board decided that the new building needed 14 rooms to accommodate the population. Harry Stewart was the architect. The general contractor for the project was Jos. R. Farrell, Inc., of Sharon Hill.

Carl G. Leech, county superintendent of schools, was among officials present at the groundbreaking ceremony, as well as Harvey Sabold, supervising principal of Springfield schools; Harold G. Halberstadt, president of the school board at that time and board members also attended.

The school was dedicated in October 1951 and re-dedicated in October 1986, for its 35th anniversary.

Today, Scenic Hills Elementary School is home to more than 600 children and is one of two Springfield School District elementary schools serving students from kindergarten to 4th grade.

Scenic Hills is proudly one of the few public elementary schools in Pennsylvania to receive a distinguished Great Schools Rating of nine out of 10 from the education website www.greatschools.org.

Be sure to check out the retro photos provided by , which just recognized its own milestone.