Sagamihara ES History
Opened: 1951
Closed: 1982
Sagamihara Elementary School opened in September 1951 with 300 students, ten teachers, and a principal. The school was located about thirty miles southwest of Tokyo in the Kanto Plain on the island of Honshu. Camp Zama, which is three miles away, served as the headquarters for the US Army Command/IX Corps, Japan.
The housing area where the school was located was completely surrounded by Japanese homes and businesses. The school started in a building purchased from the Japanese Government. Two one-story buildings were constructed in 1954 and 1955 to add to the original building, which was two stories. The original building was used by the Japanese military during the war and burned down in January 1976. Three temporary buildings were constructed in the summer of 1976 on the community play area across the street from the original school site.
Mr. Irwin Hall was the principal of the dependents’ school from 1952 until at least 1957. The first yearbook was published for the 1956-57 school year. During that school year there were over 950 students in grades one through eight with forty-four faculty and staff. The school had an active student council, junior red cross groups, color guard and honor guard as well as several chorus and an orchestra. Upper grade students participated in football, basketball, and cheerleading, including traveling to other schools and participating in tournaments.
The school continued to grow in enrollment even though there were fewer grade levels. By the 1961-62 school year the enrollment was over 1,000 for grades one through six, and three years later the enrollment reached 1,050 with grades one through five. The administrators for the 1961-62 school year were principal Richard Ferguson and assistant principal Murray Ford. There were fifty-five faculty and staff. Mr. George Johnson was the principal for the 1964-65 school years. The vice principal for the first semester was Willis Wehrspan and Robert Kynor for the second semester.
During the last year of the school, about one third of the students were bused from three housing areas, and there were thirty-one educators on the staff. The enrollment for grades kindergarten through five was 530 students.
Information from internet sites, school yearbooks, DoDDS School Information Guides and DoDDS Pacific Region, 1946-1986