We first observed the initials HHS on Shenandoah Elementary School auditorium chairs while attending an elementary school graduation in June 2016.
Although we attended school Kindergarten thru 7th grade and during that time don’t recall ever seeing the HHS initials on the chairs! We were puzzled as why they didn’t have the initials of Shenandoah High School (SHS) as it used to be a high school for many decades before moving to the newly built Page County High School in 1961.
We posted an inquiry on the Facebook page Remember Shenandoah Back When as to what was the meaning of the HHS initials, and could the chairs have come from a different high school. Laney Comer Dallas commented “that according to dad (Buddy Comer), the original name for Shenandoah High School was going to be Hanger High School (to be named after a superintendent in the county). They decided to keep the name Shenandoah High School, but the auditorium seats had already been ordered and couldn't be changed.” This was exciting news to us as we had never heard this part of the Shenandoah High School history before!
We kind of put this subject on the back burner for a while until it resurfaced again a few weeks ago. This time we had a little more time to devote to researching and looking for more clues about Hanger High School. We did a lot of searching online at Virginia Chronicle. There we found out that the gentleman the school was to be named after was Mr. Harry Blair Hanger. We learned that Mr. Hanger had a fascinating background. He was widely known in educational and political circles. He served as a reporter in the United States Senate for several years and was private secretary to Senator Hale, of Maine. Mr. Hanger was also one of the reporters of the Virginia constitutional convention of 1901. He was principal of Shenandoah School and was Superintendent of Page Schools. During the Christmas Holidays in 1934, tragedy struck the town when the 1916 school building burned. In July 1935 Superintendent Harry B. Hanger submitted plans for building a school in Shenandoah City, containing 16 classrooms and an auditorium costing $82,164.
We continued our online research thru the Massanutten Regional Library where we were able to access the online newspaper research service called Newspaper Archive. There we found a Daily News Record article dated October 30, 1936. The article was called Shenandoah Social News and personals, and the third paragraph from the top it starts to describe events at Hanger High School.
“The Hanger High School has formed two patrols from the student body. The Girls' Patrol sees that the school grounds are kept neat. The boys are the traffic patrol at the street crossings close to the school so that students may be protected in crossing and to see that students observe the crossing rules.”
This is the only newspaper article reference to Hanger High School we could find.
We would like to know why they flip flopped on naming the high school. We will keep looking for more details, and if we find anything new, we will update this article.
Mr. Hanger’s obituary is listed below.
SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
HARRY B. HANGER IS DEAD
Harry Blair Hanger, Page County Superintendent of Schools since 1924 was found dead Wednesday morning in his room at the home of Mr. and Mrs. K. G. Dobbs, Shenandoah, where for the past six years he has had an apartment. Mr. Hanger, who was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Hanger, deceased, of Churchville, was 58 years of age. He was a scion of one of the pioneer families of that section of the state. Mr. Hanger has been prominently identified with the civic life of his adopted county since he became principal of the High School at Shenandoah previous to his superintendency of the schools of the county. He was a champion for the betterment of the things pertaining to the uplift of this county. He had his office at Luray since becoming superintendent but resided in Shenandoah and made daily trips to his office here despite the onslaught of the malady for the past several years which he finally succumbed to after a gallant fight. During his superintendency the schools of the county have materially grown and a number of important buildings have been added to the system including Luray High School, Shenandoah High School, Grove Hill and others.
The school bus system, in its present high state of efficiency was developed due to his untiring efforts. The subject of this notice is survived by one brother, O. V. Hanger, Clerk of Virginia Senate in Richmond for the past twenty years. Another brother G. W. W. Hanger of New York, who died last January married Miss Luey Galt, a sister of the first Mrs. Woodrow Wilson. This brother for many years, was connected with the Department of Labor for which he prepared a number of bulletins and reports on economic and sociological questions. From 1913 to 1920 he was a member of the U. S. Board of Meditation and Conciliation. He was an assistant director of labor in the U. S. R. R. administration and for six years after 1920 served on the Old U. S. Labor Board. Professor Hanger came to Shenandoah in 1920 and was principal of the High School at that place for four years when he was appointed County Superintendent.
He went to his room at an early hour Monday afternoon and did not appear again. His absence was noted by Mrs. Dobbs who knocked on his door several times without response. Finally becoming deeply alarmed an effort was made to break the door which proved futile. Finally, an entrance was made through a rear window and he was found sitting in his chair apparently asleep, but the spark of life had fled. It is probable he had been dead eight or ten hours. Since the beginning of his malady, he made weekly trips to Charlottesville for radium treatment and at times it was thought the malady was arrested but medical science proved to no avail in this case. A number of years ago he underwent a major operation performed by Dr. Jackson a noted specialist of Philadelphia which apparently was successful. However, he never regained his normal speech after the operation. He was tireless in his efforts for the betterment of the schools of Page County and due to his efforts, he had built up one of the best systems in the state. During the past few years since he became a victim of the malady his office work at Luray was looked after with efficiency by his secretary Mrs. Elsie Miller Knowles who succeeded Mrs. Ezra Fox nee. Miss Virginia Kibler who was the efficient secretary until her marriage a few years ago after which she resigned her position. Mr. Hanger, before becoming a school teacher served as the secretary to the late Senator Hale of Maine. He was a graduate of Roanoke College and attended summer sessions at the University of Virginia. Besides his brother he is survived by one son Mahlon Hanger of Baltimore. Funeral services will be held in the Shenandoah Methodist Church this (Friday) morning at 11 o'clock with Rev. Raymond Musser in charge. Interment will be at his old home at Churchville, Augusta County. Page county schools will be closed today (Friday) as a tribute to the departed superintendent and it is expected that practically all the scholars of the county will attend the funeral.
Harry B. Hanger 1878- 1936 - Superintendent of Page County Schools
The Shenandoah Museum has an excellent book about the history of the Shenandoah High and Elementary Schools written by Mr. Ralph W. Harlow, titled School History. In this book Mr. Harlow stated that Mr. Hanger was the 9th Superintendent of Page County and died in office in 1936, he followed the term of Judge John H. Booten that filled the position from 1909 to 1925. This book has a detailed description of the Shenandoah school construction timeline starting in 1884 and includes the new wing that was added in 1994. Mr. Harlow’s book is located in the museums library room. In this same room you can view several old Shenandoah High School yearbooks. It was in this room where we obtained Mr. Hangers picture in the Shenandoah High School 1936 year book. In this room you will find several other booklets about the school.
We found the above picture in the front of Mr. Harlow's book.
Please follow link below to see our article that takes you on a tour inside the Shenandoah Elementary School.
Shenandoah Elementary School Memories
