- Lawrence High School is a fully-accredited public high school located in Lawrence, Kansas, serving students in grades 10-12. The school is one of the two public high schools located in the city. Lawrence High enrolled 1,260 students in the 2007-2008 school year. The school colors are red and black and the mascot is the "Chesty Lion".
- Lawrence High School was established in 1857 in order to help educate the growing population of Lawrence. The first classes were held in the basement of a Unitarian Church. Three years later, the school was relocated to the current site of Central Junior High School. Lawrence High moved to its current location in 1954. Throughout its history, Lawrence High has won more state championships in athletics than any other high school in the state of Kansas. Notable alumni of the school include KU All-American, Danny Manning, and attorney, Erin Brokovich.
- History
- Early Years
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On January 16, 1855, five months after the arrival of the first settlers in Lawrence, the first school was established in the back room of the Emigrant Aid building. The first classes were made up of 20 students for a three and a half month term. In 1857, public donations were used to build the Quincy School, named for Josiah Quincy of Boston, which was held in the basement of the Old Unitarian Church on Ohio Street. Three years later, Lawrence received an amended charter, enabling the city to establish a public school system of eight grades. In 1865, Central School, at Ninth and Kentucky, was built at a cost of $11,100. In 1869, the ninth grade was added. A three-year high school course was organized, offering only the following subjects until 1880: algebra, geometry, trigonometry, English, Latin, Greek, general history, civil government, natural philosophy, and geology. The "high school" was held in a single room of Central. In 1889, the "'Old High School'", at the southeast corner of 9th and Kentucky, was built at a cost of $35,000. It was said to be "A marvel of beauty, convenience and cheapness." In November 1889, the first school newspaper, The Mercury, was published and was released every two weeks. The following year, the debate club began. Three years later, The Budget was also published at a length of 28 pages. During the early 1890s, the first athletic teams were established with football, basketball, and track being the most popular. In 1892, German Club was formed. Students stopped taking the class during World War I, thinking it "unpatriotic". Three years later, the local YMCA was organized. Sororities were later established, but, after being found against state laws, were quickly discontinued.
- 1900's-1950's
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At the turn of the new century, The Budget discontinued publication, for a while reappearing as The Windmill. In 1903, the first student government body was established. Two years later, Lawrence High featured the only high school band in the state. In 1907, the football team wore red and black stockings for the first time, establishing the school colors. The eventual yearbook, the Red and Black was started in 1912. From 1914-1918, two new departments were added: physical education and vocational agriculture. Regular music instruction began at the school in 1919. The following year, a $300,000 bond issue led to a new building and the junior high school took over the old high school buildings. Liberty Memorial High School, also known as "Old High", located at 14th and Massachusetts, was brought about when the students supported a bond issue for a memorial to 18 service men that had lost their lives in World War I. To raise the money for their campaigning, the Budget was delivered by 102 students to each home. A circus was given, and a junior-senior play was presented with debates on the bond issue between acts. Liberty High School Week was declared, and the students had such bond issue campaign slogans as "It Shall Pass", "Give Us Room to Grow", and "Things Go Wrong When We're All in a Throng". One of the wounded soldiers returned to school and led the mile-long parade for the campaign.
- In 1930, the Lion was introduced as a school symbol and in 1946, it made its official debut as the school mascot. Three years later, in 1949, a similar bond campaign to the 1920 one began when students of Lawrence assisted in a successful drive to build Lawrence High School at 19th and Louisiana Streets. From that has come the slogan, "a gift of the citizens of Lawrence to their Children". The amount of the bond proposal was $2,620,000. From this came $1.8 million for the building, including furniture. On March 26th, 1954, the school was moved to its current location today. The alma mater was written in 1954.
- 1960's-1990's
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The cafeteria facilities were expanded and a new addition of thirteen classrooms was built at the southeast corner of the building in 1962. In 1965, The administration center was completed. This separate building to the south housed district administrative offices, and had eight classrooms where most of the business classes are still located. In 1966, a bond issue was passed providing for a new cafeteria, library, and additional physical education facilities. The wrestling room and two additional dressing rooms were available for use at the beginning of the 1967 school year. A year later, the cafeteria and library, complete with central air conditioning, were ready for student use. The old library and cafeteria areas were converted into six additional classrooms. In May 1973, an ad hoc committee was formed to study the need for expanded facilities at Lawrence High School. Out of this study came the recommendation for expansion in the areas of vocational practical arts, physical education, and fine arts. In the Fall of 1976, all three of these areas were ready for use. In the fine arts area, a large rehearsal room for the band and orchestra was added along with an art classroom. In the physical education area, a separate building was constructed. This building houses a full-sized gymnasium with a seating capacity of 500, a second-story wrestling area with showers, dressing rooms and offices. The vocational and practical arts area was expanded with the addition of a power mechanics shop, an agriculture mechanics shop, a metal technology shop, and two classrooms. Extensive remodeling took place.
- In January 1980, A short-course standard swimming pool built adjacent to the new physical education facility was completed and opened to the students. The pool is equipped with six lanes for swimming competitions, a diving well with two one-meter boards, special equipment for the teaching of adapted aquatics, bleachers for approximately 275 spectators, and a patio for sun bathing. The theater area was remodeled and a new stage construction area added in the fall of 1984. The remodeled theater included new dressing rooms for both boys and girls, an auditorium ceiling to provide better lighting and acoustics, and an electronic control panel. In the Fall of 1985, the practical arts area was remodeled to improve classroom facilities for mechanical drawing, journalism and cooperative industrial training, A new woodshop with an adjoining classroom was added to the facility at this time. In the Fall of 1987, the administration center was moved from the LHS campus. Lawrence High School moved several classes and offices into this facility. It is called the LHS Annex. A renovation at Lawrence High was completed in 1995.Finally, in 1997, a second public high school; Lawrence Free State High School, was opened, ending the city's long record of all young people being educated in a single high school.
- 2000's-Present
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From bond issue funds, Lawrence High was able to add three state-of-the-art chemistry classrooms, a new entrance to the East Gym, and some improvements to the special education facilities. In 2008, artificial turf was installed on the football field.
- Extracurricular Activities
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The extracurricular activities offered at Lawrence High School are many and varied due to the school's large size. The Chesty Lions compete in the Sunflower League and are classified as a 6A school, the largest classification in Kansas according to the Kansas State High School Activities Association. Throughout its history, Lawrence has won more state championships than any other high school in the state. Many graduates have gone on to participate in Division I, Division II, and Division III athletics including former KU All-Americans Danny Manning and Paul Endacott.
- Athletics
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Currently Lawrence High has more than 100 state championships in various sports, one of the highest totals in the nation. The first state championship was won in 1914 in boys basketball. The next title, however, wouldn't be until 1954 in boys basketball. This started a half century of athletic achievements by the Chesty Lions. From 1954 to 2009 the Lions added 104 more state titles, bringing their total to 105. In 2008, Sports Illustrated listed Lawrence High School as the top high school athletics program in Kansas. Additionally, due to the success of Lawrence High and the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas was featured as a candidate for Titletown, USA by ESPN.
- Football
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The Lawrence High School Chesty Lions have 31 undefeated seasons in football, the most in the United States. The Lions won five consecutive Kansas State High School Activities Association state championships in Class 6A, the state's largest, from 1989 through 1993. The record was tied by both Hutchinson High School and Smith Center High School in 2008.
- State Championships
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Lawrence High has won the following state championships:
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^ predates KSHSAA playoffs and AP poll
+predates KSHSAA playoffs; ranked #1 in final AP poll
- Significant Alumni
- Danny Manning, led the University of Kansas basketball team to the 1988 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament championship
- Erin Brockovich, had a movie made about her when she helped a town win a $333 million lawsuit because Pacific Gas and Electric Company had contaminated their water supply
- Robert Docking, 38th Governor of Kansas
- Paul Endacott, led the Kansas Jayhawks to consecutive Helms Foundation national championships in 1922 and 1923
- Jeff Yagher, American actor
- John Hadl, former professional American football player and All-American running back at KU
- Shawn Russell, singer/songwriter
- Alan Mulally, Ford Motors CEO
- Brian McClendon, Google Earth creator
- External links
- Lawrence High School website
- Source: Wikipedia; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.
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