Smith Hall was located behind the Lincoln elementary building (aka the first Slatington high school). The gymnasium was built on the site of the old Band Hall.
In the spring of 1935, the school board began talking about building a new gymnasium on the Lincoln school grounds. Despite some controversy over whether another school building was needed for the town, citizens overwhelmingly approved a bond sale for the building in the November 1935 election. Interestingly, a referendum to allow movie theatres to open on Sundays was rejected by a vote of 1056 to 762.
In the summer and early fall of 1936, the school board, and then the state, approved plans for the multi-purpose building.
Architect Herbert Furman Everett (1890-1985) of the firm of Jacoby & Everett, Commonwealth Building, Allentown, PA (later known as Everett Associates) produced the plans. He also designed numerous buildings and schools in and around Allentown, including the Phoebe Home and the First Presbyterian Church in Allentown.
The general contractor was Harold Williams of Allentown.
The $127,000 cost was split between $62,000 from the federal government’s Public Works Administration (PWA) and $65,000 from the local school board.
Ground was broken for the new gymnasium in February 1937.
Dedication of Smith Hall took place over two days. On Tuesday, 7 December 1937 the speechmaking and formal dedication took place. Then on Wednesday, 8 December, a gymnastics demonstration by students from East Stroudsburg Teachers College was followed by a basketball game between Palmerton and Slatington; Slatington lost 36-22!
Seating capacity of the new gymnasium was about 1500.
The new school building was named for Norman Smith (1896-1926). He coached the Slatington high school basketball team for seven seasons, beginning with 1919-1920 and ending with 1925-26. His overall record was approximately 95-41 (We have incomplete records for some years.). In 1925-26 the team was league champion and finished the year 19-1 with the only loss at the hands of Lansford in the first round of the playoffs.
Norman Smith
Smith was a 1914 graduate of Slatington High School and a 1918 graduate of Penn State, and he served as a second lieutenant during World War I. At the time of his death in 1926, he was also serving as school principal and director of athletics. He was survived by his wife, Clara Behm (1894-1942) and a daughter.
He was also the first commander of American Legion Allen O. Delke Post 16 in Slatington.
There were several bronze plagues in the foyer of Smith Hall. The dedication plaque read
In Memory of
Norman Elwood Smith
Principal * Teacher * Coach
Slatington High School
1919 – 1926
In Whose Memory
This Building Is Dedicated as
SMITH HALL
He gave his life to the
work in which he found a keen
pleasure and lasting satisfaction
- 1937 -
With the opening of a new Northern Lehigh High School in 1982 with its new gym, Smith Hall was no longer needed by the school district.
In July 1982, the razing of the 45-year-old Smith Hall by Zak Demolition of Bethlehem began. This coincided with the Lehigh County Housing Authority plans to erect a 75-unit apartment building for the elderly on the former Lincoln school site. The Morning Call reported that “The acquisition of Smith Hall was not necessary to construct the apartment building, according to LCHA Executive Director John Seitz, but the district preferred to sell the two properties together.”
I have so many memories of Smith Hall.
- The trek over to Smith Hall for gym class when I was in junior high, a gym class that often involved wresting, since the wrestling coach was also the gym teacher, or square dancing, when it was raining outside.
- Watching basketball games and wrestling meets in the building. The place always seemed to be pretty full and lively for basketball games in the 1970s. As part of the school newspaper's staff. I covered so many games and meets in the building.
- The tiny men’s locker room.
- The refreshment staff in the hot and steamy corridor on the level below the basketball court.
- The wood shop on the first floor.
- Sometimes during the summer we’d walk over to Smith Hall and the doors would be open, and we could go inside and play some basketball or just hang out.
- The trophy case was right in the entrance foyer of the building. Hopefully, those trophies were saved when the building was demolished.
- My cousins lived right behind Smith Hall in the 1950s, and they could hear the noise from the basketball games.
- Playing kickball during recess on the playground between the Lincoln elementary and Smith Hall. Home plate was on the very west end of the playground in the northwest corner. Once, Dave Kern kicked a ball that reached up to Smith Hall where the entrance doors were. It was a mammoth kick!
It was truly a wonderful building!
There is more information about Smith Hall in Slatington at 150 Years: More Stories to Share (2014), pp. 468-69.
Trout Creek Manor on the former site of the old Slatington High School, 2023