In this month’s episode of Archive Dive, our focus is on Superior Senior High School (now Superior High School), which brought students from the city's East and Central high schools together in 1965.

The school, which cost $4.5 million, was dedicated on Sept. 12, 1965. It had room for 1,800 students, two pools, a language laboratory, a strict dress code for girls, and a unique circle structure that defined the school for generations. The baby boom generation students attended class in three shifts.

In this episode, Telegram reporter Maria Lockwood is joined by local historian and retired librarian Teddie Meronek as they dive into the stories and history of how the school came to be, as well as some of the changes and challenges, especially with a large student population.

Meronek's family was filled with East graduates until she was the first to graduate from the new “space-age“ school.

“I had a good education,” Meronek said. “I will never ever slight that if there had been fewer people there, it probably would have been a little more enjoyable. But, I'm glad that I went to Superior High School because I met people from all over town, and in those days, you did not fraternize outside your neighborhood.”

 A unique trait for decades was the circle structure. Architects felt it was more efficient, both with cost and space, as it allowed them to make the corridors shorter and eliminate a stairway.

 Meronek remembers one issue in particular that the circle created.

“My problem was that everything looked alike. So you could be there three years and you still didn't know where you were going. Luckily I had a clock right by my locker, so I could always find it,” she said.

Topics also discussed in this episode include Wisconsin’s legislation in 1959 that affected school districts, the impact of Superior Cathedral’s closure in 1969, multiple strikes in the same school year, how the shift structure worked, why the school didn’t have an auditorium, rules on boys' hair length, a homecoming king who went on to become a professional athlete, speculation on why ‘senior’ was dropped from the name, and much more.

Reconstruction of Superior High School, which eliminated the circle, was completed in 2019.

 New episodes of Archive Dive are published monthly. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Episodes are edited and produced by Duluth Media Group digital producer Dan Williamson. If you have an idea for a topic you’d like to see covered, email Maria Lockwood at [email protected].