As the 2022-2023 school year ends, after more than a century as a Manhattan school, East Campus is closing for the final time.
The building at 901 Poyntz Avenue has more history than most buildings in Manhattan. It first started as the Manhattan High School and a Junior High wing was added. When MHS moved to 2100 Poyntz Avenue, the building known more recently as East Campus was made into Manhattan Junior High. The grades assigned to attend there varied through the years, reflecting class sizes in parts of the district. Athletic Director Mike Marsh, whose dad was principal there, said that for a short time beginning during the 1980 school year, it was switched to house sixth, seventh and eighth graders and became Manhattan Middle School.
“I was a student here in ‘77, ‘78 and ‘79 as a seventh grader, eighth grader and ninth grader,” Marsh said. “And during my time here, the middle school, which was the Junior High at that time, was remodeled, so they had six classrooms in this [Marsh Auditorium].”
Once Eisenhower and Anthony middle schools were built in 1995, one year after Marsh’s dad’s retirement, the East Campus became the “Ninth Grade Center.”
East Campus has a lot of personal meaning for teachers who are now either retiring or moving to West Campus, such as security officer Carlos Gonzalez, who seems to remember most, if not all the students who were taught in that building, going back to the graduates of 2003, with Adrian Mace and 2012 with Jackie Karlson.
“(One of my favorite memories) is when I retired and I wanted to come back, Mr. [Dave] Holloway accepted me in a hurry,” Gonzalez said.
East Campus is filled with so many memories of each class of students, each teacher and staff and every family who made the Campus a joyful and memorable experience for all.
“I’m happy for Manhattan and I’m happy for the community,” Marsh said. “Ever since 1909 this building has been used as a school building and it’s going to be used for many different purposes to make our district click well, but at the same time there are many memories in this building that I’ll always come back to. There’s just a lot of hauntings. Good hauntings, so to speak.”
