Brief History of Akron High School
By Neva Jackson, 5th grade teacher, 1949
The first class to graduate from Akron District 1 was the completion of the 11th grade, May 20, 1898 which had been meeting in the Akron Grade School.
By 1909, the high school had grown from a one-year to a three-year course and conditions were so crowded that some classes were held in other locations in the town.
The committee decided to submit a bond issue of $10,000 to the schools of Washington County and to contact the Lincoln Land Company to purchase a site for the proposed building.
This original high school, built in 1911, cost $8,000 and contained two class-rooms and an assembly hall. It housed three teachers and 45 students.
By January, 1916, a new school building was erected at a cost of $30,000 with a gymnasium in the basement to provide indoor basketball courts, an assembly hall, library, shops, office, teachers room and seven classrooms.
In 1921, Superintendent C.E. Stewart founded the Washington County High School System which later became a model for many other school systems across the nation.
Akron High School was the main school in the system having been established in 1888. The first branch high school was located in Otis. In 1921, branch schools were started in Cope, Lone Star, High Prairie and Roosevelt. In 1922, Platner and Woodrow were established, Lindon in 1924 and Sunnydale in 1926.
Courtesy Akron News Reporter
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