Eugene High School
From Lane Co Oregon
[edit] Mounts Hall
The old courthouse, which was located behind the present court house at Eighth Avenue East and Oak Street, served Lane County as a court house until the present brick building was erected in 1898. Classes were added as the demand increased but with some difficulty, as the taxpayers did not want to spend money for maintenance and students wanted to get to the University sooner. Eugene High had its first graduating class in 1901, when nine who had entered as freshmen in 1897 decided to remain loyal to the school and graduate while 10 others went to the University without graduating. It was then converted and used to house Eugene High School’s rapidly growing student body until 1902 when the classes were again moved to the Central Grade School. This building was the first one in Eugene to be used exclusively for high classes for a period of years. It had 14 recitation rooms, an assembly room to accommodate 300, a library, and offices, giving a much better opportunity for good work.
The conditions under which the school was organized made it extremely difficult to arouse the enthusiasm and loyalty of the students. The first year there was no separate building and no special instructors. In the second year, there was but little improvement and Mounts Hall was entirely inadequate and the teachers were overworked. In addition, there were no school traditions or customs handed down from former classes as there had been no high school in which such could originate. The third year saw change. An assembly room made it possible to get all the students together to form a student-body association and other organizations.
The building located at Eleventh Avenue and Willamette Street and then used as the city hall, was erected in 1903-1904. It was really Eugene’s first high school building, being erected specifically for high school classes. Built to house more that 300 students and planned to care for future enrollments for many years to come, it required an addition in 1908. Its location, inadequate site, and limited capacity led to its abandonment in favor of another new school in 1914-1915.
[edit] Lincoln Street Building
Having outgrown its first high school building and one addition, Eugene decided in 1914 to build a new high school on a one-block site on Lincoln Street between Seventeenth and Eighteenth Avenues West. Especially did the school spirit grow when the students moved to their new brick building on Seventeenth Street. More attention was paid to athletics and various other groups such as the debate club. The student body had increased to 280 and the faculty numbered seven.
After the $10,000 addition was made to the school in 1908, student activities received better support than ever before. The football team had twice won the Western Oregon Interscholastic Athletic championship and the track team won the state championship in 1909, as did the basketball teams in 1909 and 1910. The high school was noted as a worthy representative of the Eugene community wherever students went.
It was later used as a west side junior high school, being occupied by the Woodrow Wilson Junior High School in September, 1953.
In 1915, the school again moved to another brick building, which was built with a fair eye to the future. But now after 38 years, we are ready to leave again, with many memories of these long halls and many stairs, to a school with still longer halls but no stairs. With the present student body and faculty the future for this brand new building is bright. This school was called University High School.
