photo by: Matt Resnick/Journal-World

Attendees of Liberty Memorial Central Middle School's 100th anniversary event recite the " Pledge of Allegiance" on Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023.

Former principal Ted Juneau said that he can “feel the voices” of former students who passed through what is now Liberty Memorial Central Middle School during the 100th anniversary of the building and a rededication of it as a World War I memorial.

More than 500 people were in attendance on Sunday for the ceremony and open house that commemorated the anniversary of the building at 1400 Massachusetts St., which originally served the community in 1923 as Liberty Memorial High School. The building was a war memorial to area high school students and graduates who died during World War I. According to the district’s website, 19 of 300 area students who served in the war were killed, including two who served as nurses.

The auditorium, which Juneau called “magnificent,” was described by event coordinator Emily Mulligan as the crown jewel of the building. Accentuating its two levels are more than a dozen stained glass window panes — donated from Belgium in the 1930s — and memorial plaques to the students who died. Juneau added that the city leaders at the time wanted the school and its auditorium to be available for community use and to “stand out as a landmark and carry significance far beyond simple functioning of the classroom space.”

photo by: Matt Resnick/Journal-World

Ted Juneau, who served as the Liberty Memorial Central Middle School principal from 1994-2005, tells the audience of the school’s rich history on Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023.

The first impressions of Josephine Kline, a senior at the school when it opened, are recorded on the school district’s website. She described the building as “strange and bewildering” with “seemingly unlimited space.”

“The halls seemed endless,” Kline said, “like the streets of town.”

The event also included choir performances from current students and alumni. Mulligan said that turnout for the event exceeded her expectations.

“I am so pleased that such a variety of people from different (eras) chose to come here and celebrate,” she said. “They knew that they would be welcomed because this school is still a community.”

Juneau, who served as principal from 1994 to 2005, told the Journal-World that this building has always held a special place in his heart.

“It was the best during my time here, and I still consider it the best,” he said.

Memory lane

Don Nease, a member of Lawrence Memorial High’s last graduating class in the spring of 1953 — the school would then go on to become Lawrence Junior High in 1954 — told the Journal-World that his fondest memories were as a member of the school’s dance band.

“Blue Moon was our theme song that we always started out (events) with, and I played the alto-sax,” Nease said, in reference to the ballad that has been recorded by numerous artists, including Elvis Presley.  

Nease also met his high school sweetheart and wife of 66 years, Sandra (Robbins) Nease, through participation in the school’s band.

Calvin Spencer, another former student that attended in the late 1950s, said he was surprised to see that the school’s old gymnasium had been converted into classroom space for band and orchestra students.

photo by: Matt Resnick/Journal-World

Calvin Spencer, who attended the school from 1957-59 after its switch to a junior high, reflects in a room that served as the school’s old gymnasium, on Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023.

photo by: Douglas County Historical Society screen grab

Liberty Memorial High School students participate in gym class in this 1924 photo.

“I was hoping to see the old gym,” Spencer said, adding that he was impressed with the rededication ceremony, and that he has always appreciated the Rudyard Kipling poem “The King’s Pilgrimage” that is displayed high up in the auditorium and commemorates a king’s visit to battlefield cemeteries.

Charlyne (McCluggage) Michnick, who attended the high school for all but her last year in 1954, said that her father taught American Government and debate there from 1928 to 1938 and that he relayed stories of students climbing down the three-story building from the outside in order to skip class. Michnick said her father also told of a time when students reconstructed a Ford Model T on the school’s third floor.

The building itself, Juneau said, was designed by renowned architect William Ittner, and was built for a cost of roughly $500,000. In 1960 it became Central Junior High School and became Liberty Memorial Central Middle School in 2011.

photo by: Matt Resnick/Journal-World

A portion of Rudyard Kipling’s poem “The King’s Pilgrimage” is prominently displayed in the Liberty Memorial Central Middle School auditorium.

photo by: Matt Resnick/Journal-World

An original program from Liberty Memorial High School’s public dedication ceremony in September 1923. The program was available for attendees of the building’s 100th anniversary event to view on Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023.

photo by: Matt Resnick/Journal-World

An assortment of programs were on display at Liberty Memorial Central Middle School’s 100th anniversary event on Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023.

photo by: Matt Resnick/Journal-World

A varsity letter-jacket was on display at the Liberty Memorial Central Middle School’s 100th anniversary event on Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023.

photo by: Douglas County Historical Society screen grab

An undated image of a Liberty Memorial High School students pack into the school’s auditorium. A bond issue to “redecorate” the auditorium passed in 1938.

photo by: Matt Resnick/Journal-World

A 1922 artist rendering that shows the original concept of what is now Liberty Memorial Central Middle School.

photo by: Matt Resnick/Journal-World

An assortment of keepsakes are displayed at Liberty Memorial Central Middle School’s 100th anniversary event on Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023.

photo by: Matt Resnick/Journal-World

Former classmates of both Liberty Memorial and Lawrence High schools, Eugenia (Leasure) Bryan, left, and Charlyne (McCluggage) Mitchnick attended the Liberty Memorial Central Middle School 100th anniversary event on Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023.

photo by: Courtesy of Lawrence school district

A special logo that features a poppy flower, the traditional symbol of World War I remembrance, was designed to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Liberty Memorial Central Middle School building.