The History of Loudoun's Auditoriums

[Hey there. I accidentally deleted this blog post. Luckily, everything was salvageable. This was originally posted August 2, 2012. Enjoy! - A.J. ]

Loudoun County High School's Auditorium

   The Auditorium. Our meeting place. The place where a school’s community comes together. A feature we find essential in our schools today, yet it was not always like that.

   From 1925-1928, a new school opened every year (Leesburg, Lincoln, Lovettsville, and Aldie). These were the new generation of high school buildings. These schools came with an entirely new feature, the Multi-Purpose Room! These rooms could be used for various ways: a place for assembly, an indoor gymnasium, an auditorium with a stage, and later as a cafeteria (many schools let their students to go home for lunch in earlier times, especially before the Free Lunch Act)

Lincoln's Auditorium in the center of the school

   At this time, the school system must have realized the other high schools (or schools in general) were now considered sub-par compared to the shiny new schools. So from 1928 to 1931, Waterford, Round Hill, Purcellville, Middleburg, Lucketts, Hillsboro (and maybe Ashburn) Schools received a theatrical addition. 1929 had the most renovations finish up in one year (three), a record which wouldn’t be beaten until 1974.

Middleburg Elementary School Auditorium

   Why these schools? The pattern I picked up on is that all the listed schools were high schools currently or previously. My theory is the choice was probably attendance-based. These were also the biggest schools in the county. You don’t see an auditorium on a one-room schoolhouse.

   If you have been counting, 10, maybe 11 schools received an Auditorium (Ashburn HS burned down in 1944, so I’m not sure about whether it received an Auditorium). Last week I said there had been 12 high schools in the early 20th century. The remaining school from the high school list is the Unison-Bloomfield School. Unison-Bloomfield, interestingly enough, never got an Auditorium. In 1933, just after the Auditorium additions, the school closed. Maybe due to a lack of attendance at the school (the towns of Unison and Bloomfield are quite small) and foresight into the school’s looming closure kept the school system from adding such a large investment onto this school.

Unison-Bloomfield School, picture provided by a LCPS CIP

   In 1939, Arcola Elementary School (I) opened – without an auditorium. For whatever reason, the school system did not include one with the school. From Douglass High School (1941) onwards, every new school built came with an auditorium. (Around 1956-1957, Arcola ES (I) received an auditorium addition)

   The next milestone would be when the multi-purpose room separated its entities. Loudoun County High School was the first school to have separate rooms for the cafeteria, gym, and auditorium. Originally, all three were kept close together and centrally located in the school (Due to numerous renovations, this is no longer the case). All high schools built afterwards (and middle schools) have continued to keep them separate rooms. Their position in the schools varies, sometimes across the hall from each other, sometimes across the building.

Tuscarora High School Auditorium

   Elementary Schools have gone a different way. It wouldn’t be until the 70’s when elementary schools separated spaces. Now, schools come with a cafeteria and a gym, with the gym also being able to be an auditorium. Some older schools (such as Catoctin and Sully) have added gyms, with their old multi-purpose spaces becoming Cafetoriums.

   And that is how the Auditorium came to be! I am finally back to work on Monday (Dealing with a changing-four-time-zones headache—wish me luck!)


--Curtain--