Manhattan High School senior Avery Inman said it was important to her to document the last days of classes in the MHS East Campus building at 901 Poyntz Ave.
“I attended (classes) in this building, and I know a lot of people have, plus people attended it as a middle school, or they’ve gone to school here and now they teach here,” Inman said. “So, I feel like it’s good to document for like, every generation.”
This month marks the final time freshman students will attend classes at the East Campus facility. Starting in August, all students in 9th through 12th grades will attend MHS West Campus, following the completion of a new addition to that building earlier this year.
Inman, who is the editor-in-chief of the MHS Blue M Yearbook, said she had a conversation with MHS student journalism adviser Kristy Nyp about documenting daily life in the 901 Poyntz facility before it ceased to be a school. Nyp said the idea grew from creating a possible supplement to the yearbook into something much larger.
“We’re here to just capture as much as we can,” Nyp said, “because after 100 years of this being an attendance center, it’s not going to be anymore. We just wanted to capture that before we lost the chance to.”
Nyp, along with Inman and several other students, toted cameras as they explored the halls of MHS East Thursday, snapping photos of architectural and historical points of interest inside and out. Building security official Carlos Gonzales led students through the tunnel that winds underneath the Little Theater and showed them some of the building additions from over the years. Students also took time to interview school alumni, including Manhattan High School Alumni Association director Dave Fiser, who graduated from the school in 1957.
“It was really crowded,” Fiser said. “This was the junior high building, and right across the courtyard was the high school. So, what I remember was, it was really crowded, going in the halls and everything. It was shoulder to shoulder going down the stairs.”
Fiser moved to Manhattan when he was four years old, as his father, Lud Fiser, accepted a job as the high school football coach. Lud Fiser coached MHS football from 1942 to 1944, leading the team to an undefeated 9-0 record in 1943. He later became the head K-State football coach in 1945, and then the head KSU baseball coach in 1947 and 1948.
Dave Fiser graduated from K-State in 1962 and worked at Kansas Farm Bureau for 37 years, including as vice president and sales manager. He was an eight-year member of the Manhattan-Ogden Board of Education, two-time president of the Manhattan Country Club and eight-year member of the city commission, having served two terms as mayor. He was added to the MHS Wall of Fame in early 2020. Fiser is also a retired colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves.
MHS journalism students and The Mercury interviewed Fiser Thursday in the school’s alumni archives room. Fiser said he wants people to remember the history of the school building at 9th and Poyntz, which has existed in some form for 150 years. According to the Riley County Historical Society, in 1857 the Manhattan Town Company acquired three lots on Poyntz Avenue, where a two-story school building was constructed for $2,500. This facility was called the Avenue School.
Later, in 1913, Manhattan High School graduated its first class from the building. That same year, the local school board voted to build a new four-year senior high school on the site of the former Avenue School. At the same time, a two-year junior high school would be built directly across from the new high school on the same plot of land. Manhattan Senior High School held its first classes in 1914, and the junior high building was ready in 1918.
In 1926, a Civil War veterans’ association called the Grand Army of the Republic asked that the school board name the building in honor of Abraham Lincoln. The board approved it in 1927, and the words “Lincoln High School” were carved into the stonework above the entrance of the old building. People who visit the 901 Poyntz facility today can see the inscribed words through the glass walkway that connects the two East Campus buildings.
The district built the west campus building in 1956 and became the new high school, with east campus undergoing several additions and renovations over the decades as it served as a junior high school. In 1996, USD 383 built Anthony and Eisenhower middle schools and moved 9th-graders to the East Campus.
MHS East Campus kitchen manager Stacy Reeder has been with USD 383 for 26 years. She said she and her staff will be moved to the middle schools come August. At 901 Poyntz, the cafeteria will be utilized by local nonprofit group Common Table to serve community meals.
“I think this building holds a lot of history, it holds a lot of stories,” East Campus cook Laurie Roland said. “My parents went here. Lots of good memories.”
Manhattan High athletic director Mike Marsh said his family moved to Manhattan in 1971. His father, Marvin Marsh, was the building principal from 1971 to 1995. Marsh is now in his 23rd year as a USD 383 administrator. He said what happens in local schools is reflective of the community’s wellbeing.
“Manhattan has grown in I think a very positive way over the years,” Marsh said. “That’s what attracted me to coming back.”
Marsh said there’s a lot of emotions surrounding the transition of 901 Poyntz from a school to an administrative building.
“There’s a lot of memories in this building that I’ll always come back to,” Marsh said. “There’s just a lot of hauntings, so to speak, good hauntings that occurred in this building.”
