By Lauren Korchok
Every part of McNicholas High School has a story about its history, but how much of the history do students know? The students know the hallways by the subjects they house, but the hallways have given names that represent the roots of the school.
The original name for the “SAIL Hallway” is McNicholas Hall. McNicholas Hall was the first hallway added to the convent building. “When we started letting in boys, we had to add more rooms,” Theology teacher and Mission and Ministry Team member, Mrs. Mary Beth Sandman said. McNicholas Hall was named after former Cincinnati Archbishop and school namesake John T. McNicholas and was built in 1952 with classrooms, a gym, and an auditorium.
The Streetcar, aka Marian Hall, or the social studies hallway, was added about a year after McNicholas Hall, and was named to honor the Sisters of St. Joseph and their New Orleans’ roots. This connected the McNicholas Hall to the Convent.
In 1956, Alter Hall was added, along with the cafeteria, more classrooms, and a faculty lounge. Upper Alter Hall is the cafeteria area, and Lower Alter Hall is where the English and World Languages classrooms are located. Alter Hall was named after former Cincinnati Archbishop Karl Joseph Alter. He gave the final approval to become the first co-ed catholic high school in Cincinnati. After John T. McNicholas died, Alter gave approval and supported the name change from St. Joseph Academy to McNicholas High School. St. Joseph Hall came into existence in the 1960’s with 12 new classrooms. Upper and Lower St. Joseph is also known as the math and science hallways. The Upper and Lower St. Joseph Hall was named after the Sisters of St. Joseph who founded St. Joseph Academy later becoming McNicholas High School.
Four years later, Lower Marian Hall was added, replacing the “streetcar.” Lower Marian Hall added six new classrooms where the social studies classrooms are located. Marian Hall was named after Mary, mother of Jesus, with Upper Marian Hall added in 1970. “Upper Marian Hall was one big open space used for many different uses,” Sandmann said.
Throughout the years, the hallways have had many different informal names as well. Students have called each hallway by what subject classrooms they have, and they were also referred to as freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior halls. Grade levels became the names of the hallways when there were grade level homerooms and the accompanying lockers, when students still used the lockers. Junior hall was Upper St. Joseph Hall, sophomore hall was lower St. Joseph Hall, and freshman hall was Alter Hall. When students stopped using the lockers and the rooms were renumbered, students started calling the halls by what subject the classrooms were, but now, McNicholas is working to move back toward calling the hallways their more formal, given names.
The McNicholas Milestone 