| Thanks to the largesse of the Mary Gaston Barnwell Foundation, every freshman receives his/her copy of the Hand Book of the Central High School of Philadelphia, and thanks to e-bay for this poignant copy- the year of transition from the Broad & Green Street building to the $2,000,000 facility at Ogontz & Olney Avenues-forty percent or $950,000 which was paid by Public Works Administration. The Wister Family Estate sold the seventeen- acre tract for $205,000. The purchase was approved by the Board of Education on March 9, 1937. Ground was broken on April 1st. The general contract for erecting the building was awarded to John McShain, Inc. who had done the foundation of the building for $74,000, and were the low bidders for the building - $1,382,200. Despite two months of prolonged strike in January and February 1938, the building was completed and turned over to the Board of Education in September, 1938. |
