As construction continues on a new Wakefield Memorial High School, here’s a look at the second high school in Wakefield, which was located on the west side of Main Street, just south of the Americal Civic Center, on what is now a soccer field. (The current Town Hall building served as Wakefield’s first high school.)
The photo is from 1930, just seven years after the building welcomed its first high school students in 1923. In 1955, a new Wakefield Memorial High school opened next door, on the present site of the Galvin Middle School and was named as a memorial to Wakefield servicemen killed in wars.
The old 1923 high school building was then used to educate grades seven, eight and nine and became known as the Willard B. Atwell School, named after the school superintendent who retired in 1947 after 36 years of service.
When the new Junior High School was built on Farm Street in 1960, it housed grades seven and eight, and the old Atwell Building once again became part of the high school campus.
The Atwell Building was destroyed by a devastating fire on Dec. 12, 1971.