Olney Charter High School, formerly Aspira Charter School at Olney, and Olney High School, is a public high school located in the Olney neighborhood of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. Previously directly controlled by the

School District of Philadelphia The School District of Philadelphia (SDP) is the school district that includes all school district-operated public schools in Philadelphia. Established in 1818, it is the 8th largest school district in the nation, by enrollment, serving over 200 ...

, it is now a charter high school. However, Olney will revert to a directly controlled district public high school beginning the 2022-2023 school year. The original historic building was designed by

Irwin T. Catharine Irwin Thornton Catharine (October 22, 1883 – March 3, 1944) was the chief architect of Philadelphia Public school (government funded), public schools from 1920 until his retirement in 1937. Buildings built during Catharine's tenure ranged from ...

and built in 1929–1930. It is a five-story brick building on a

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

base with a five-story tower in the Late Gothic Revival-style. It features Gothic arched openings and

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

details. ''Note:'' This includes It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1986.

Alumni

Clair Blank Clarissa Mabel Blank (August 5, 1915August 15, 1965) was an American author. She wrote the ''Beverly Gray'' mystery series and four other novels. Biography Clarissa Mabel Blank was born on August 5, 1915 in Allentown, Pennsylvania to Bessie and ...

, former author, ''

Beverly Gray The Beverly Gray Mystery Stories, comprising 26 novels published between 1934 and 1955, were written by Clair Blank whose pen name was Clarissa Mabel Blank Moyer. The series began as a series of school stories, and followed Beverly's progress th ...

'' mystery series * Florence Jaffy (Class of 1935), former economist and researcher *

Leon Eisenberg Leon Eisenberg (August 8, 1922 – September 15, 2009) was an American child psychiatrist, social psychiatrist and medical educator who "transformed child psychiatry by advocating research into developmental problems". He is credited with a num ...

(Class of 1939), former child and social psychiatrist * Raymond G. Perelman, former philanthropist * Jerry Ross, former songwriter, record producer, and founder of Heritage Records *

Al Spangler Albert Donald Spangler (born July 8, 1933) is a retired American Major League Baseball outfielder and coach. Spangler appeared in 912 games in the majors between and for the Milwaukee Braves, Houston Colt .45s / Astros, Los Angeles / Califo ...

, former professional baseball player,

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...

, and

Milwaukee Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in Bost ...

Del Ennis Delmer Ennis (June 8, 1925 – February 8, 1996) was an American professional baseball outfielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1946 to 1959 for the Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, and Chicago Wh ...

, former professional baseball player,

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

, and

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals hav ...

* Debra Sledge (Class of 1972), singer, eldest and founding member of

Sister Sledge Sister Sledge is an American musical vocal group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Formed in 1971, the group consisted of sisters Debbie, Joni, Kim, and Kathy Sledge. The siblings achieved international success at the height of the disco era. ...

Joni Sledge Joan Elise Sledge (September 13, 1956 – March 10, 2017) was an American singer best known as a founding member of the family vocal group Sister Sledge. The group was known for their hits during the mid-1970s through the mid-1990s; most notably ...

(Class of 1974), former singer and founding member of Sister Sledge * Kim Sledge (Class of 1975), singer and founding member of Sister Sledge *

Kathy Sledge Kathy Sledge (born January 6, 1959) is an American singer–songwriter and producer. Sledge is best known as the youngest and founding member of Sister Sledge, an American vocal group which is made up of her sisters that formed in 1971. After ach ...

(Class of 1977), singer and founding member of Sister Sledge *

Gregory Tony } Gregory Scott Tony (born 1978) is an American law enforcement officer and the 17th Sheriff of Broward County, Florida. Tony was initially appointed sheriff in 2019 by Florida governor Ron DeSantis, to fill a vacancy. In November 2020, T ...

(Class of 1997), Sheriff of Broward County, Florida

References

External links

Olney Charter High School website
School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Philadelphia Gothic Revival architecture in Pennsylvania School buildings completed in 1930 High schools in Philadelphia Charter schools in Pennsylvania 1930 establishments in Pennsylvania {{PhiladelphiaPA-NRHP-stub