Eugene High School
From Lane Co Oregon
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 School. This building was the first one in Eugene to be used exclusively for high classes for a period of years.
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.
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. Location of the school aroused considerable criticism, but it served the youth of the community as a high school for 38 years. It was then used as a west side junior high school, being occupied by the Woodrow Wilson Junior High in September, 1953.
