793. Pensacola High School Class of 1921 Part I

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Mar 6, 20223 min read

The Pensacola High School yearbook of 1921, known as the "Tattler" provides a glimpse into the men and women that would be shaping the city's history well into the 21st Century. It's worth reading because it also gives us a view of the values and customs of day-to-day life in Pensacola shortly after World War I.

The 1921 Tattler was dedicated to English teacher Miss Natalie Crawford Moffett (1896-1982), born in Lexington, KY and the daughter of Alexander Stuart Moffett (1847-1921) and Carrie Lena Crawford (1854-1898). Her father served the Confederacy in the Marquis' Boys Battalion, from Staunton, VA, as a 3rd Corporal. On June 5, 1864, he served as a gunner at the battle of Piedmont, Virginia. His daughter Natalie would receive her BA from Florida State College for Women and was residing at 112 West Gregory Street before leaving Pensacola High School to join her parents as a Presbyterian missionary in China from 1922 to 1940. While there she attended the University of Nanking in 1923. Her parents had been in China since 1907 and were forced out in 1940 when the country was taken over by the communists. Natalie would leave China to become a Bible teacher at the Flora MacDonald College in Red Springs, North Carolina. Later she was a teacher at Erskine College in Due West, SC before becoming a librarian at Bucknell University in Bucknell, Virginia until her retirement to Farmville, Virginia in 1971. She would pass away on August 2, 1982 in Richmond, Virginia from a stroke.

And as is with many senior classes, they unfortunately lose a student along their academic road to graduation and the class of 1921 was no different! The 1921 Tattler listed in memoriam their classmate, John Henry Hudson Jr., the son of John Henry Hudson Sr. (1868-1922) and Annie R. Hunter (1876-1962). His father was a conductor for the L&N Railroad in Georgiana, Alabama in 1910 and by 1920 had transferred to Pensacola, Florida and settled his three sons and three daughters into a house at 27 East Gregory Street. As his namesake was entering his senior year of high school, he developed a high fever very rapidly on July 7 with swelling of his lymph nodes. Each day his condition worsened giving rise to a diagnosis of bubonic plaque. The city health officials were already aware that the disease, as of June 5, had already struck Galveston, New Orleans, and now Pensacola. Three victims in Pensacola alone had already died. Oscar Green, an ice wagon driver had succumbed on June 17 followed by Peter George Giardina. This disease alone, known as the Black Death, had wiped out two-thirds of Europe's population (over 25 million people) in the 1300's. It was spread by bacteria that was carried by fleas, which in turn were spread by rats and other rodents. The Class of 1921's John Henry Hudson Jr. would pass away from this horrible disease on July 14, 1920 and was buried in St. John's Cemetery.

The Tattler also noted their appreciation to the citizens of Escambia County, Florida for voting on December 24, 1919 for a new high school to be built at 614 North Palafox Street. The cornerstone was laid on April 22, 1921 and promised to be the most "modern" school of its times in Escambia County. The ground floor would have three entrances, one on Jackson Street, another on Gadsden Street and the final on Guillemard Street. The bottom floor covered 140' by 230' and would house the home economics department, manual training, gym, locker room and showers. The ground or main floor facing North Palafox Street would contain the administration, library, commercial department, two classrooms, and the teacher lounge. It would also house the large auditorium seating 1,200 people and the 32' by 26'-foot stage together with dressing rooms. The upper floor would have the remaining classrooms, laboratories, and motion picture projection room. To top off this modern wonder, the school would boast an electric programable clock system that automatically rang the bells for the change of classes plus a ventilation system for fresh air (no air conditioning). The total cost was $270,290 for the building and $30,000 for equipment. This Tattler "appreciation" summary was written by Monroe Campbell from the Class of 1922.