This spring, as Upper Arlington High School prepares to celebrate its 100th graduating class, it will also publish the 100th volume of what is now known as the Norwester.

While the school “annual,” as it was known at the time, was first published in 1923, the 1925 edition is officially labeled as volume one — coinciding with the opening of Upper Arlington’s first school building, now known as Jones Middle School, and Upper Arlington’s first graduating class.

Two years later, in 1927, the yearbook officially became known as the Norwester, likely in a nod to the name of the community’s first magazine, The Norwester Magazine, published from November 1917 to March 1922.

In the thousands of pages published since volume one, the Norwester has chronicled the experience within and history of Upper Arlington’s schools — including the origin of the Golden Bear mascot, which first appeared in the 1928 edition, and the change in school colors from orange and black to gold and black in the 1941 edition. It has also documented the opening of new school buildings — from the Jones building in 1924 to the Ridgeview Road high school in 1957 to the current building in 2021. 

Norwester readership has ebbed and flow with the changes in the schools, too. It initially served as a yearbook for students in grades 1 through 12, but that changed in 1939, when Barrington Elementary School opened its doors for students in grades 1-6.  And, from 1956 to 1984, you’ll find only grades 10-12 in the Norwester, because only those grades attended the Upper Arlington High School building on Ridgeview Road at that time.

You can explore the history of the Norwester, and find friends and family, at www.uaarchives.org.