Utica Wall of Honor

Currently the site of the Utica Wall of Honor, the open fields along Spring Street have an important historic past. School Street to the south of the field hints at what once stood here: Union Public School and Washington High School. This open section of Spring Street held a school house as early as the 1860s. After new construction and remodels on Spring Street, Union Public School stood here for more than half a century. The long-standing school building was torn down in the 1960s. A new high school—Washington High School—was built in 1928 facing Mill Street. In addition to an auditorium and gymnasium, the new building also had a projector to show films and movies – educational films on school days and then popular films with admissions on the weekends. A new high school building opened in the fall of 1957.

Image 1: Photograph of the Public School House of Utica on Spring Street around the turn of the twentieth century

Image 2: Postcard of the Public School House of Utica on Spring Street around the turn of the twentieth century

Image 3: Postcard showing a frontal view of the public school with children playing outside

Image 4: Photograph High School shown in 1928

Image 5: Detail of the 1936 Sanborn Fire Insurance map of Utica that shows the Union Pubic School and Washington High School on the now empty fields