By Jim Bloch
The St. Clair High School band will perform a free concert April 12, marking its 100th anniversary. The band will play in the high school gym, 2200 Clinton Avenue, St. Clair. The concert is free and open to the public.
Band director Micah Volz announced the performance at the regular meeting of the city council April 6.
“The 1926 yearbook of St. Clair High School indicates that it was the first year they had a band in the school,” said Volz, as heard on the CTV-Channel 6 recording of the meeting. “So, on April 12, 1926, they put on their first concert. This coming April 12 Sunday at 2 p.m., we’re putting on a concert, a hundred years to the day following that first concert at St. Clair High School. If you’d like to attend, we’d love to have you. Mr. Bob Wheeler is going to conduct the band again and we’ve invited any alumni and friends of the band program to come back and take part in the performance as well.”
“Fun,” said Mayor Bill Cedar. “Good.”
Construction of the old high school started in 1921 on Sixth Street between Thornapple and Orchard and was completed in 1922. The old Union School was razed to make room for the new building.
“The final cost was $350,000, which was a considerable sum, but the district had a first-rate facility,” wrote Chuck Homberg in his 2007 history St. Clair, Michigan. “The new school included a gymnasium and an auditorium. The auditorium was the district’s only one the next 80 years.”
The current high school opened in 1961.
On page 55 of the 1926 edition of the yearbook – The Clarion – appeared a notice entitled “Band.”
“A band was organized this year under the direction of Mr. Story of Sarnia. The band was sponsored by the Parent Teachers Association,” The Clarion reported. “On April the twelfth the band played several selections for the Association to show their progress. The band marched on Memorial Day, May 30 and played several patriotic selections.”
The April 12, 2026, concert will be “A major milestone in our history!” said the Marching Saints in a Facebook post.
Jim Bloch is a freelance writer based in St. Clair, Michigan. Contact him at bloch.jim@gmail.com.
