Old Town Boys’ High School

In 1781, a school building was built on this site with a commemorative plaque: Schola Memelensis ope Dei Triunius Maximi tandem exstructa (With the help of the Supreme Trinity of God) [Anno] 1781. The school was enlarged several times.

During the great city fire in 1854 the school burned down but was rebuilt very quickly. In 1855, a new brick four-class high school for boys was consecrated, which was supposed to train employees of state institutions and savings banks, merchants, workers of the port and factories. In 1860, the school was granted the status of a gymnasium and in 1888 it was nationalized. When in 1891 The Royal Gymnasium (named after Queen Louise) moved to a newly built modern high school building, the old building was passed to the Old Town Boys’ High School. In 1910, the reformed curriculum was approved and included 14 study subjects. In addition to the usual subjects, English and French, arithmetic with a course in bookkeeping, and gardening were tough. The Old Town Boys’ High School was famous for its high level of education, strict teachers, and discipline. The number of students grew, so in 1912-1913 the building was reconstructed, installing physics, biology, and typewriting classrooms; and bookbinding and woodwork workshops. The school had a cine-projector, an epidiascope, and a radio. Although tuition was paid, the number of students was growing. In 1905, there were 7 classrooms and in 1920 – 14. Between the wars, the number of students fluctuated greatly: the lowest was in 1929 – 151, and in 1937 – already 445. In 1936, the 14 teachers (all men) worked at school. 7 of them were university graduates. The school was pro-German, although Lithuanian children also studied there. Most of the students belonged to the hitlerjugend organization. The school ceased to function in 1944. In December of 1944, the building was heavily damaged during fighting. The ruins were neglected for several years, and in 1956 they were fully demolished. A modern hotel is planned to be built on this site.

One of the most famous school teachers, the school headmaster in 1850-1860, was Ernst Gustav Julius Waldhauer (1814-1883). In 1850, he published a textbook on linear perspective and a comprehensive plant atlas with 1,310 pen and special ink drawings of plants. He published lithographs with images of Memel before and after the great city fire in 1854. So far, these are partly the only images of the city buildings that no longer exist. He designed the Anglican Church in Memel and initiated the establishment of the first sports club in the city in 1950.

Hugo Scheu (1845-1937), the most famous patron of Šilokarčema (since 1923 Šilutė), the founder of the first local history museum in Klaipėda region (his collections are the most important part of the current Scheu Museum), a student and later friend of G. Waldhauer.

Friedrich Wilhelm Argelander (1799-1875), a famous astronomer, director of Turku (Finland) observatory, director and university professor of the Helsinki observatory, director of the Bonn observatory and university professor; the pioneer of extensive systematic study of variable stars. He developed a simple method of visual observation of variable stars (the brightness of the variable star under study is estimated by the neighboring stars of constant brightness, and this is called Argelander’s method). Argelander systematically measured the brightness of about 40 variable stars, and together with his students discovered many new ones. He created the current nomenclature for variable stars. Argelander was granted an award from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and a gold medal from the Royal Society of Astronomy.

Erich Karschies (1909-1942). He graduated from Klaipėda secondary school, studied at the Teachers’ Seminary and was teaching at Old Town Boys’ School. He was tutoring literature teaching, prepared language exercise notebooks for primary schools. According to the decision of the directorate, schools were allowed to use his Lithuanian language textbook to teach German children. In 1937, he was appointed to the school council, collaborated in the newspaper ‘Memeler Dampfboot’, and wrote about Klaipėda region, its people and their everyday life. His debut novel – ‘Fischmeister’ (Fishery Inspector) was published in 1940, but due to the war, it was not adapted to the screen.

In the last decade of the 19^th century, Jonas Birškus (1873-1959), the public figure, a bibliophile studied at this school. He was the secretary of the Lithuanian Union in Prussia (1904-1905), a member of the Prussian Lithuanian People’s Council, a member of the first Land Directory (1923-1925). In 1919, Vilius Gaigalaitis was on a hiding at his place.