A Look at Western High School in 1900

Here’s an old photo of Western High School taken by Frances Benjamin Johnston. The photo is from about 1900 and today, the building houses the Duke Ellington School of the Arts.

Western High School in 1900
Western High School in 1900

Source: Library of Congress

Two decades after this photo, a Western student named Margaret Gorman won the first Miss America pageant at age 16, putting the Georgetown school briefly at the center of national attention.