Green Berry Trimble: The Man and the School

Educator Green Berry Trimble, born on Aledo in 1898, was himself the son of an educator.

His father, Dr. William M. Trimble, had been principal of the Marine school and later superintendent of the school of the city of North Fort Worth and an organizer of Arlington College, which evolved into Grubbs Vocational College and eventually UTA.

tech trimble hired 8-13-19 stGreen Trimble attended the University of Texas and North Texas State University. In 1935 he earned a master’s degree in industrial education from Colorado State College. From the beginning the son shared the father’s interest in vocational training: In 1919 at age twenty-one Green Trimble was “elected” as a manual training teacher. This August 13, 1919 Star-Telegram article says Trimble was hired as a teacher in Fort Worth schools, but the newspaper reported elsewhere that Trimble began his career as an educator in 1919 as a shop teacher at Diamond Hill School, and in 1919 Diamond Hill School was in its own district (which included Niles City) and not yet part of the Fort Worth school district.

tech coach 8-7-21 stBy 1921 Trimble was coaching at the “Junior High” (there was only one), which was housed in the building on Jennings Avenue that originally was Central High (1911) and later was a junior high after the new Central High opened in 1918 in the building on Cannon Street that today houses Trimble Technical High School. (Yes, the building has a complicated history.) Clip is from the August 7 Star-Telegram.

trimble 26 texasIn 1926 Trimble joined the school district’s vocational training program as a teacher. His Vocational High School No. 4 was located on Texas Street where the central fire station is today in a building that formerly had housed the Sam Houston/Fourth Ward school. By 1928 that school was “Fort Worth Vocational Training School,” and Trimble was principal. In 1930 the school moved into the old Ninth Ward School near today’s Nash Elementary School. In 1937 the school, as “Technical High School,” moved into the old North Side High School building on Park Street.

trimble brother 41Trimble was principal of Technical High School in 1941 when his brother was killed in the war.

Principal Trimble in the 1948 Bulldog yearbook.

trimble into paschal 55In 1955 Principal Trimble and his vocational training school moved yet again—into the old Paschal High School building on Cannon Street. Paschal High School moved to the building on Forest Park Boulevard that had opened in 1936 as McLean Junior High School. The Star-Telegram reported in 1935 that the junior high school we know as “Rosemont” (built concurrently with the Forest Park Boulevard building) had been set to be named “McLean.” But the South Fort Worth Civic League protested the name, preferring “Rosemont.” The “McLean” name went to the school on Forest Park Boulevard. As I said, it’s complicated.

trimble paddling 59In a front-page story in 1959 Principal Trimble, with C. A. Thompson, O. D. Wyatt, and other Fort Worth principals, took part in a discussion of the merits of paddling.

trimble retires 66 1When Green Berry Trimble retired in 1966 as director of vocational training for the school district, he had spent forty-one of his forty-eight years in education in vocational training as teacher, principal, or director. For his work, soon after his retirement the school was named “Green B. Trimble Technical High School.”

Upon his retirement, Trimble said, “Well, I’m happy about what I have done, but not satisfied. A man who is satisfied is through, and I’m not through.”

tech trimble seat 5-9-68 dmnIndeed Green Trimble was not through. He ran for a seat on the school board in 1968 and on May 8 took that seat and kept it until 1979. Clip is from the May 9 Dallas Morning News.

tech trimble graveGreen B. Trimble the man died in 1996 and is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery.

As for the genesis of Green Berry Trimble the school, in 1915 school board member George C. Clarke proposed building a new high school on the site of Fort Worth University.

Early in 1917 the last building of Fort Worth University was demolished.

In May 1917 construction of the new high school began. The cornerstone was laid September 6. The building, although not completed, opened for classes in September 1918.

Some views of Green B. Trimble the school:

The cornerstone and a cast-stone nameplate over the west entrance (see postcard below) are reminders of the building’s beginning as “Fort Worth High School.”

When the building was still “Paschal High School.” (Postcard from Barbara Love Logan.)

tech wikiThe median on Adams Street was removed in the 1960s. (Photo from Wikipedia.)

tech 2

Over the main entrance.

light tech

higher ed techsteps techwindow techhigher ed tech 4higher ed tech 1corner tech

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12 Responses to Green Berry Trimble: The Man and the School

  1. Mark Roberts says:

    I graduated from Technical High School in 1958. Would like to hear from any survivors of that time.

  2. william white says:

    This is by far the best High school in the State of Texas

  3. John Roberts says:

    The information that I found about the “Southwest Junior High School” came from the Tarrant County Historic Resources Survey. I went back and checked the more recent Historic Schools Survey Report prepared for the City Council and the FWISD, and that survey confirms that the building opened as McLean. That information has been upated at Fort Worth Architecture. Thank you for the research assistance

    • hometown says:

      Thanks, John. The early history of the school building on Forest Park Boulevard has been hard to pin down. I am reviewing my posts that touch on the history of the schools associated with the building. Part of the challenge, as you know, is that plans were announced but changes in plans were not reported in the newspaper; newspapers wrote for tomorrow, not the next century; streets changed names or disappeared (e.g., Prince Street, the reported location of Rosemont Junior High–which was almost named McLean Junior High–was taken by Rosemont Park); two buildings at different locations had the same name at different times (e.g., Fort Worth High School/Central High School on both Jennings and Cannon, not to mention the first high school on Daggett), etc. My head hurts.

  4. Vicky Trimble Bland says:

    In 1955 Paschal High School moved to Forest Park Blvd in the building which had housed McClean Middle School, not Southwest

    • hometown says:

      My source for that is the website Fort Worth Architecture: “This school building was originally constructed as Southwest Junior High School in 1936. A few years later, it was renamed W.P. McLean Junior High School.” But the school indeed opened in 1936 as McLean, although, according to a Star-Telegram article of 1935, the school we know as “Rosemont” was set to be named “McLean” (both buildings were built at the same time). Instead the McLean name went to the school on Forest Park Boulevard. I have made that change. Thanks.

  5. Sharon says:

    I graduated from Tech in 1965, when it was Technical High School and Green B. Trimble was principal. My younger sister insists, “No, it’s ALWAYS been Green B. Trimble Technical High School.” Now I know why. She started in the fall of 1966! I had moved away in the fall of ’65 so didn’t know of Mr. Trimble’s retirement and subsequent renaming of “Tech.”
    Just discovered your column and am loving it. Got interested in Ft. Worth history after recently discovering that my husband’s great-great grandmother’s two sisters were the first two wives of K. M. VanZandt!

    • hometown says:

      The naming history of Fort Worth schools and their buildings can make you dizzy, and that school/building is a good example. No confusion about the name “Van Zandt,” though. A giant in our history.

    • Sunni Hanson Fisher says:

      In 1965 and 1966, the school was called fort Worth Technical High School. The Class of 1966 was ceremoniously allowed to vote for the name change to Green B. Trimble Technical High School which was the name of the school for the Class of 1967.

  6. Dan Lamb says:

    Mike, I was a 37 year History teacher at North Side High. While there I tried to compile as much of the school history as I could. Part of that is a list of North Side Principals taken fro old Yearbooks. I do not have Dr William M. Trimble in my list of principals at North Side High. I do have a gap in my list for the school year 1913-1914. Could he be the one who belongs in that spot? Thanks for your help on this and all you do for the preservation of Fort Worth history.

    • hometown says:

      Thanks, Dan. The clips I sent you don’t help you fill in your timeline of principals. He was named “superintendent” of “the North Fort Worth school” but in 1903. By 1907 he had left education for medicine.

  7. Pat Hyden says:

    Loved this High School and still do.

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