Carthage Senior High School (Carthage, Missouri)

Carthage Senior High School

Current Principal	Kandy Frazier
School type	Public
Religious affiliation	None
Founded	1848
Opened	1904 (current facility)
Location	Carthage, Missouri USA
Enrollment	Xxxx
Faculty	Xxx
Mascot	Tiger
School colors	Blue, Silver, & White

Carthage Senior High School is a public high school located in Carthage, Missouri USA.

Location and campus

The school's main campus is located on Main Street in historic downtown Carthage, near the town square and the Jasper County courthouse. The main building is a four-story structure, constructed of "Carthage Marble", a type of limestone native to the Carthage area, and used prominently in many local buildings. The original 1904 building has two notable attached additions, a gymnasium (added in 1952,) and a 900-seat auditorium. The original building included a smaller auditorium, which was converted during construction of the new addition in 1986-1987 into classroom space and a media center. Adjacent to the main building are several annex buildings, which support additional classroom space, athletic facilities, and school district offices.

The school also has a well-equipped Technical Center, located at 609 River Street, which houses classes in the vocational and technical fields.

Notably, the school's football stadium and related practice facilities are located on the campus of the Junior High School, on Centennial Avenue.

Several attempts have been made in recent years to raise funds to build an all-new facility, which would presumably attempt to combine the hodgepodge of buildings and facilities into one contiguous campus. The most recent bond issue, a $30-million proposal, was approved by local voters on April 4, 2006. The new facilities are currently nearing completion.

History

Carthage's first school likely opened around 1848, on the town square's north side. (Surviving records are unclear at best, but numerous sources make mention of such a school.)

The first high school opened its doors at the present location in 1860, with Samuel Kealand acting as its first Principal. Officially named the Carthage Male and Female Academy, the school was built at a cost of $1,000, on donated land. As was fashionable at the time, the wood-framed building included a cupola, complete with a 125 lb (275 kg) cast iron bell, that was imported from Sheffield, England. The Male and Female Academy was destroyed in an 1861 fire, when the city was razed during the Civil War. The bell is the only part of that original building that survives. It was restored and placed on permanent display in the current school in 1917, through donations from alumni.

Following the Civil War, the Central School was built in 1872, on the location of the destroyed Male and Female Academy. A stately red brick structure, it stood on the corner of Main and Chestnut Streets for the next 79 years. After construction of the current school building to its north, the old Central School building was converted to an annex and renamed the Manual Arts Building. The building was eventually demolished in 1951, to make way for the current school's gymnasium addition.

Due to the post-war zinc and lead mining boom in southwest Missouri, Carthage saw significant population growth. This led to the need for a larger high school. In 1904, the current building was completed, at a cost of $100,000.

Notable alumni

* Janet L. Kavandi Ph. D., NASA astronaut and veteran of 3 Space Shuttle missions - Class of 1977, "Valedictorian"
* Marlin Perkins, naturalist and host of TV's "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" - Class of 1923
* Felix Wright, CFL and NFL pro football player - Class of 1977

Gallery

External links

* [http://www.carthage.k12.mo.us/hs/ Carthage Senior High School website]
* [http://www.carthage.k12.mo.us/ Carthage R-9 School District website]

ources

* "Carthaginian", vol. 4 (1914 school yearbook)
* "Carthaginian", vol. 41 (1951 school yearbook)
* "Carthaginian", vol. 42 (1952 school yearbook)
* "Carthaginian", vol. 77 (1987 school yearbook)