Archives High Schools: Central

Official Name: Central High School 

Year Opened: 1882

1st Graduating Class: 1884

The school was originally named Central Colored High School. The name was changed to Central High School in 1945. The school was originally located at Sixth and Kentucky streets. It moved to Ninth and Magazine Streets in 1894. An addition for manual training was completed in 1907. The manual section remained at that address when the high school moved to Ninth and Chestnut streets by 1912. The school moved to a newly constructed building at its present address near Eleventh and Chestnut in 1952. The school was segregated legally until 1956 and remained an all-black school until the early 1960s. A group of parents won a lawsuit in 2000 to end racial quotas at Central created by the 1975 desegregation judicial order so more black students could attend Central. In fall 2017 Central added the district's first high school Montessori program.