- Wyandotte High School is a fully-accredited, public high school located in Kansas City, Kansas, United States, serving students in grades 9-12. The building itself is a historic and notable public building, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. The school principal is Mary Stewart. The mascot is the Bulldog and the school colors are red, white, and black. The athletic programs have won many state championships including an undefeated National Championship in boys' basketball in 1923. Notable alumni of the school include actor Edward Asner, actress Dee Wallace, UCLA/Milwaukee Bucks/Los Angeles Lakers basketball star Lucius Allen.
- History
- Riverview School
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Prior to 1886, there was no free public high school in Wyandotte County, Kansas. The only higher education facility was the Palmer Academy, a subscription school. In 1886, the first public high school opened and was known as the Riverview School. During this time, an addition to Riverview School was built. The high school was organized into two rooms of Riverview with John Wherrell as the first principal and Eugene Rust, assistant. The normal training department was also established. In 1887, the first graduating class consisted of eleven girls. Following this, the enrollment was drastically increased and 5 teachers were added. In September 1888. the former Palmer Academy building was rented to house some Central School pupils and the high school. This building was a ten-room brick structure. The high school had 246 students enrolled at this time. This building was also known as Wyandotte Academy. After dramatic increases in student population, extra rooms were rented in a store building in order to help with the overcrowding situation. In 1897, a bond issue for a new high school failed.
- Kansas City, Kansas High School
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On December 3, 1898, after a special election, people voted $75,000 for new school to be located north of Ohio Avenue. Two months later, a site was chosen at the northwest corner of Ninth and Minnesota. This property was bought from Therese and Charles Hains, consisting of about nine or ten lots, Block 119. In October 1899, the school was occupied, consisting of 16 teachers and 535 students. G.W. Rose was the principal and on December 5, the school was dedicated. On April 14, 1904, the school was closed for several days on account of the killing of a white boy by a colored man (not a student). In 1905, colored and white students were sent to the school during different periods and in 1906, colored students were sent to Sumner High School. During the 1907-08 school year, an addition was made to the north side of the school, and in 1910, an addition was made to the south side. On January 4, 1911, Kansas City, Kansas High School was chosen as the official name. The first honor society was established in 1920 and the PTA was established the following year. In 1923, a new gymnasium and laboratories were added to the southeast side of the school. On March 21, 1923, the basketball team won a national championship in Chicago, Illinois.
- Central High School/Wyandotte High School
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From August 26, 1924 until January 2, 1928, the name was unofficially changed to Central High School following the annexation of Argentine and Rosedale High Schools (although the name was also used for the school beginning in the winter of 1910-11 for a period of time). On January 3, 1928, the name was formally changed to Wyandotte High School. The following October, the football stadium was dedicated on a 28-acre site. On Saturday, March 3, 1934, a fire broke out in Wyandotte High School, located at 9th and Minnesota . The blaze spread through the air shafts to all parts of the building. Through the efforts of Superintendent Schlagle and others, records and valuable articles were rescued. Although plans for a new Wyandotte High School were in the making, the board was not ready yet to build. Problems of housing and finances had to be met. Classes at Central Junior and Northwest Junior were placed on half-day sessions so that high school students could use the buildings in the afternoons. The gymnasium across the street was damaged and junior college students attended there. After a week's vacation, the high school resumed on March 12. A Citizens Advisory Committee was appointed to assist with plans for a new building. On September 10, 1937, a new building was dedicated at 25th and Minnesota at a cost of $2.5 million. In 1951, Wyandotte suffered a major flood. On July 10, arrangements with both day and night shifts at the building were made to be ready on call to accept flood evacuees. It developed later that Wyandotte was not the most suitable place for housing. It later became evident that better housing could be provided by dividing evacuees into separate rooms. The large proportion of fixed furniture at Wyandotte made it less advantageous than elementary schools having movable furniture. On March 15, 1961, a new flag pole was dedicated. The following month, a Diamond Jubilee program was established in order to celebrate the school's 75th anniversary. In 1975, a new press box, seating area, and lights were added and the following year, an all-weather track was installed. On March 28, 1985, the school building was designated as a Kansas City, Kansas Historic Landmark. It was registered in Historic Kansas Places on November 23, 1985, and placed in the National Register of Historic Places on April 30, 1986. In 1993, the school began a business, entrepreneurship, technology magnet program. The program ended in the 1997-98 school year. In 2003, voters approved a proposed $120 million bond issue at a municipal election on Tuesday, April 3, 2001 to air-condition schools, improve technology, and make other upgrades to schools and public libraries. Wyandotte was part of Phase III, which was completed in the summer of 2003. On April 8, 2004, Wyandotte hosted a dedication ceremony which included the naming of its track after the late Francis (Ted) Swaim, former track coach at Wyandotte. During the 2004-05 school year, the school received a "Great IDEAS" grant funded and sponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. This grant encourages teachers in small learning communities to work together to develop innovative programs and projects to improve student learning. The school received $2,474.
- Extracurricular Activities
- Athletics
- Basketball
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The Bulldogs are known statewide for winning 20 state titles in basketball including a 1923 undefeated national championship season (and the girl's team in 1924, under Coach Helen Barnett, won the State title in Stanley, Kansas). One of the nation's most successful high school basketball coaches, Walter Shublom led Wyandotte High School of Kansas City, Kansas to 10 state championships and three second-place finishes in his 14 seasons there from 1955-1969. Shublom posted an incredible 296-26 record (.919 winning percentage) at Wyandotte, with his 1957 and 1965 teams finishing unbeaten and another five teams finishing with just one loss. The basketball team also won a state championship in basketball in 1998.
- Football
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In November of 2006, the football team made a playoff appearance for the first time since 1987, but suffered a loss to St. Thomas Aquinas High School. Wyandotte's football teams have won the state championship four times, occurring in 1932 (8-0-1 season), 1933 (9-0 co champions), 1941 (10-0 season), and 1951 (9-0 season).
- State Championships
- Wyandotte Pup
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In the early 1930s, students built a two-seat monoplane aircraft designed by Noel Hockaday. It was called the Wyandotte Pup. The design rights were bought by the Porterfield Aircraft Corporation and the aircraft entered production as the Porterfield Flyabout.
- Notable alumni
- Edward Asner, actor
- Dee Wallace-Stone, actress
- Cheryl Womack, entrepreneur
- Lyron Cobbins, former Notre Dame Fighting Irish All-American linebacker
- Ray Evans, former NBA and NFL player
- Lucius Allen, former NBA player for the Seattle SuperSonics, Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers, and Kansas City Kings
- Larry Drew, former NBA player for the Detroit Pistons, Kansas City and Sacramento Kings, Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers
- Emerson Wilson, Wyandotte's only high school All-American, played in the East-West game at Crump Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee on August 29, 1952
- Larry Comley, former NBA player for the Baltimore Bullets
- Pierre Russell, former ABA player for the Kentucky Colonels
- Martez Young, University of Missouri football and track star, 3x Kansas State champion in the 100 meter dash, University of Missouri school record holder in the indoor 200 meter dash
- External links
- High school history
- Architect design and history
- 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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