Last updated: 2/28/2020
1901 N. Ellison
Oklahoma City, OK 73157
PO Box 12773
Oklahoma City, OK 73157
The museum will be open, during the summer months, Saturdays from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. By prior appointment only, at other times.
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Sylvia Miley
phone:
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Cheryl Herron
phone:
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This area of our web site provides a brief overview of the site itself, of the Classen High School Alumni Association, and a compressed history of the school building together with the four different institutions that it has housed in the past 95 years.
The Classen High School Alumni Association of Oklahoma City, OK, Inc. -- its full legal name -- is in its 30th year as this is written (in 2015). The organization is recognized as a non-profit public charity under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS Code, and is incorporated in the state of Oklahoma. Its primary purpose is to preserve and maintain the history and traditions of Classen High School, which graduated more than 20,000 students between 1929 and 1985. Since establishment in 1994 of the Classen School of Advanced Studies, using the original building, a secondary goal has been added: recognition and preservation of the achievements of CSAS. Other purposes include supporting education in general and school activities in particular.
Our association dates from 1985, when those planning the 50th reunion of the Class of 1935 were shocked to learn that their alma mater was closing, permanently, at the end of the Spring semester. Using the registration list for the reunion, and gathering as much support as they could from other alumni, the planners met and established the organization as a formal entity.
At that time the group petitioned the OKC school board for permission to create an Alumni Museum in the building, using space that had once been the studios of the student TV station, KOKH-TV, and before that had served as the school's library. After protracted negotiations, the idea gained board approval. The group also requested and obtained the loan of the many trophies won by Classen in its 54-year existence, for display in the Museum. Many hours of volunteer work by association officers resulted, establishing one of the first such establishments where alumni and current students alike could solidify respect for a school's traditions. To allow convenient public access to the Museum, the association contracted for addition of a door into the museum space, eliminating any need for visitors to navigate the school's hallways. Access doors between the Museum rooms and the interior hallway were locked at all times.
The building at 1901 Ellison, just a block west of N Classen Blvd in Oklahoma City and spanning the area from NW 17 to NW 19, has housed four different schools in its almost-century-long existence. For most of that time, it was home to Classen High School, our alma mater.
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