THS 100 Centennial Celebration

Tucson High School Centennial Celebration - A Century of Service

Tucson High School Historical Timeline 1906-2006

“A Century of Service”

1906	On April 10, 1906, the Arizona Board of Regents resolved that, as of September 1, 1906, students from all Arizona cities having a population of more than 5,000 must have completed the 9th grade before enrolling in the University of Arizona Preparatory Department. Consequently, the voters of Tucson School District No. 1 approved the formation of a high school district on August 8, 1906. The first day of class of the newly established Tucson High School was September 10, 1906 with 45 students who begin classes in the Plaza School at 13th Street and 4th Avenue. After a few weeks, the high school students were relocated to a two-room building located at 1010 E. 10th Street (the current location of TUSD headquarters). Ann P. Rogers becomes the first Principal of Tucson High. San Francisco earthquake and three day fire; more than 500 dead. Theodore Roosevelt is the 26th President of the United States.
1907	5-member student body moves back to the Plaza School, on the land on which Safford Junior High was later constructed.
1908	Tucson High moves to the newly built facility that is now Roskruge Elementary/Bilingual Magnet Middle School. 10 students finish their high school careers: Leah Hamilton Nellie Penn Harold Hartley Charles Proctor Walter Lovejoy Grace Woodell-Sauer Robert McMillan Arnette Seamonds Alfred Micotti Thriza Vail-Garvey John B. Whitley becomes the second Principal of Tucson High.
1909	Harold Steele becomes the third Principal of Tucson High. Boy Scouts of America incorporated. William Howard Taft becomes the 27th President of the United States.
1912	The State of Arizona becomes the 48th State of the Union on February 14, 1912.
1913	World War I begins. Woodrow Wilson becomes the 28th President of the United States.
1916	Edward Van der Vries becomes the third Principal of Tucson High.
1917	U.S. enters World War I.


1920	G.O. Perkins becomes the fifth Principal of Tucson High. 19th Amendment ratified, allowing women to vote
1921	Warren G. Harding becomes the 28th President of the United States.

1923	O.W. Peterson becomes the sixth Principal of Tucson High. Calvin Coolidge becomes the 38th President of the United States.
1924	The Main Building of Tucson High is completed. Second Street ran north and south in front of the Main Building on the west side, and 7th Street ran east and west along the south side of the Main Building, an area now known as “the Mall”.
1925	John T. Scopes convicted and fined for teaching evolution in a public school in Tennessee.
1926	First talking motion picture: The Jazz Singer.
1927	Charles Lindbergh flies from New York to Paris.

1929	U.S. stock market crash. Herbert Hoover becomes the 31st President of the United States.
1930	The planet Pluto is discovered.
1931	“The Star Spangled Banner” officially becomes our nation’s national anthem.
1932	Amelia Earhart flies across the Atlantic Ocean.
1933	Charles A. Carson becomes the seventh Principal of Tucson High. Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes the 32nd President of the United States. Prohibition (no alcohol in the U.S.) is repealed.




1938	Joe Batiste sets national high school record of 14.0 seconds in the 110 yard high hurdles, a record which stood for 40 years until it was broken by another Tucson (Pueblo High School) athlete, Dale Fredrick. Joe would have been a shoe-in for the Olympic Gold Medal but the 1940 Olympics, slated for Tokyo Japan, were cancelled due to World War II. Orson Welles’ radio broadcast of War of the Worlds.
1939	The Physical Education Annex, including a gymnasium, is built. World War II begins.
1940	First official network television broadcast is put out by NBC.
1941	Pearl Harbor is attacked, and the U.S.S. Arizona is sunk. The U.S. enters World War II.

1943	Tucson High wins the State Football Championship, going undefeated. Income tax withholding introduced.
1944	Tucson High wins the State Football Championship, going undefeated.
1945	The Physical Education Building is remodeled and a cafeteria is built inside this building. Tucson High, under Coach Rollin Gridley, wins the State Football Championship and remained undefeated for the third year in a row, winning 32 straight games over that time period. World War II ends. Harry S. Truman becomes the 33rd President of the United States.

1947	U.S. Air Force pilot Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier.
1948	The original gym, located on the third floor of the Main Building, is remodeled into classrooms, keeping the original hardwood gym floor.

1950	Vocational Building (V-Building) is built and contains 48 classrooms and 13 different shops. Tucson High is one of the largest schools in the nation during the early 1950’s. Andy Tolson becomes the eighth Principal of Tucson High. Korean War begins.
1951	Color television introduced in the U.S.

1953	Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes the 34th President of the United States.
1954	The United States Supreme Court overturns Plessy v. Ferguson’s “separate but equal” doctrine and declares in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, KS that separate schools are “inherently unequal”, unconstitutionally depriving students of equal educational opportunities. Dr. Jonas Salk starts inoculating children against polio.

1956	Tucson High has a total enrollment of 6,800 students and is the largest high school in the United States. There are triple sessions, running from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. daily. 993 seniors graduate. 900 students led by Principal Elbert Brooks, move to Pueblo High School during the Spring semester.
1957	2000 students, led by Principal Rollin T. Gridley, move in the Spring semester from Tucson High to occupy the new Catalina High School complex on East Pima Street. Russians launch Sputnik I, the first earth-orbiting satellite.

1959	The Senior Class designs, raises the money, has fabricated and erects the large metal red "T", illuminated with red neon, which stands tall to this day as a shining beacon on top of the THS Main Building. Tucson High wins the State Baseball Championship. Alaska and Hawaii become the 49th and 50th states. Castro becomes the head of the Cuban government.
1960	Tucson High celebrates the 50th anniversary of the graduation of the Class of 1910. Six of the original ten students of the class of 1910 attend the ceremony.
1961	Navy Commander Alan Shepard is the first U.S. spaceman. John F. Kennedy becomes the 35th President of the United States.
1962	Tucson High Basketball Team goes undefeated, 23-0 and wins State Championship.
1963	The library and music rooms become the east part (E-Wing) of the Main Building. President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Lyndon B. Johnson becomes the 35th President of the United States.
1964	The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is adopted, paving the way for equal access to public facilities and specifically banning discrimination in employment and education. The Beatles appear on the Ed Sullivan Show.
1965	The Elementary and Secondary Education Act is passed to ensure, with funds, that all children have a fair and equal opportunity for a high-quality education. Tucson High wins the State Football Championship. This THS team lost only one game in 4 years.
1966	Tucson High again wins the State Football Championship. This THS team was undefeated for all 4 years. The Supreme Court decides Miranda v. Arizona.
1967	George D. Hunt becomes the ninth Principal of Tucson High.
1968	Tucson High graduate Astronaut Frank Borman commands Apollo 8, and he and the other two members of his crew become the first humans to orbit the moon and to view the entire earth as a whole from the heavens. The first school designed to reduce racial isolation by offering a choice to parents was McCarver Elementary School in Tacoma, WA. Trotter Elementary School in Boston, MA follows suit the next year. Almost every court order that mandated that schools desegregate had a voluntary component. This voluntary component became known as magnet schools. Martin Luther King is slain in Memphis. Senator Robert F. Kennedy is killed in Los Angeles.
1969	Apollo 11 Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to walk on the moon. Richard M. Nixon becomes the 37th President of the United States. Sesame Street debuts.
1970	A new cafeteria is added to the existing campus. M.Lee Starr becomes the tenth Principal of Tucson High. Tucson High wins State Football Championship going 12-0. Four students at Kent State University are slain by National Guardsmen. The United States Supreme Court, in Swann v. Charlotte Mecklenburg Board of Education, approves bussing, school closings, and faculty and student reassignments to overcome the impact of residential segregation on public school segregation.
1971	Tucson High wins State Football Championship going 11-1. Congress passes the Indian Education Act, ensuring more resources to Native American students, and the Title IX Education Amendments, prohibiting sex discrimination in educational programs receiving federal funds. Watergate scandal begins.
1972	Tucson High wins State Baseball Championship going 25-0 and was declared National Champions by the AP, coaches and sports writers of America.
1973	President Nixon ends the Vietnam War. Supreme Court rules on Roe v. Wade.
1974	Kenneth J. Miles becomes the eleventh Principal of Tucson High. President Richard Nixon resigns.


1977	Jimmy Carter becomes the 39th President of the United States.
1978	Supreme Court, in Bakke case, bars quota systems in college admissions but affirms constitutionality of programs giving advantages to minorities.
1979	Gilbert A. Carrillo becomes the twelfth Principal of Tucson High.
1980	John Lennon shot dead in New York City.
1981	Ronald Reagan becomes the 38th President of the United States. AIDS is first identified.
1982	The Badger Foundation is created. The Badger Hall of Fame begins the following year.
1983	Edward Arriaga becomes the thirteenth Principal of Tucson High.
1984	Tucson High is declared a magnet for the Tucson Unified School District, housing both Science/Technology and Performing and Visual Arts components.

1986	Bilingual Department at THMS is formed. Space shuttle Challenger explodes after launch.


1989	George H.W. Bush becomes the 41st President of the United States.
1990	John E. Hoge becomes the fourteenth Principal of Tucson High. New stadium completed on east side of field.

1992	Consent Decree in Underwood v. TUSD requiring TUSD desegregate THMS to provide equal educational opportunity and implement and fund magnet programs.
1993	The Technological Sciences & Fine Arts Building (T-Building) is completed. Renovations on the old Main Building begin. Henry Lujan becomes the fifteenth Principal of Tucson High. Bill Clinton becomes the 42nd President of the United States.

1995	Renovations/remodeling of the old Main Building are completed. Cecelia Mendoza becomes the sixteenth Principal at Tucson High.

1997	Princess Diana is killed in Paris car crash.

1999	75th Anniversary of the Main Building (1924-1999). Tucson High Magnet School is the first school in the nation to achieve a national record in three major sports: 500 wins in football; 1000 wins in basketball, and 1000 wins in baseball. Ross Sheard becomes the seventeenth Principal at Tucson High Magnet School.
2000	Tucson High Stadium is named for Coach Rollin T. Gridley, THS Coach from 1935-1947.
2001	George W. Bush becomes the 43rd President of the United States.
2002	Renovations on the Vocational Building begin. Larry McKee becomes the eighteenth Principal at Tucson High Magnet School.

2004	Renovations/remodeling of the Vocational Building are completed. Dr. Abel Morado becomes the nineteenth Principal at Tucson High Magnet School.

2006	Tucson High School celebrates its 100th Anniversary, “A Century of Service”, for students, teachers, staff, administrators, and residents of the Tucson community. NOTE: The Historical Timeline cannot fully list all of the significant achievements, mileposts, benchmarks, athletic team records or SO many of Tucson High School's distinguished alumni over the past 100 years. We do not intend to nor want anyone to feel slighted because a significant achievement(s) of their graduating class was not listed. It has been a difficult task researching and finding accurate information for the Timeline and we have listed all we have so far. We would like alumni to feel free to let us know of major events and “high lights,” whether academic, athletic or other school events, so we can possibly include them in the Timeline. The information must be correct and verifiable for us to include. Thank you very much.