Near the end of
1911, the West Division High School (now the High School of the Arts)
attendance area became so populated that the Milwaukee Board of School
Directors issued a decree that a new high school would be erected
in (what was then) the northwest corner of the city. They looked to
Mr. George Balzer, who was currently employed at West Division, for
administrative supervision of this new student body.
In the month of
August, 1912, eighty-eight green freshmen trudged along the cinder
path which led to the shack on the prairie where they were to attend
high school. The building consisted of barracks constructed on the
playground of Thirty-Eighth Street School (Thirty-Eighth and Clarke
Streets). Meanwhile, at a little spot on Sherman Boulevard, structural
work had begun on what was to become Washington High School. Well
into 1916, the building was completed.
Over the years,
many advancements were made in the new building. In 1924, now in the
present "old main" building, excavations were made for a
cafeteria and athletic team room. In 1953 the library was enlarged
and excavating for a teachers' dining room and janitor's office took
place. In 1964 the elevators were remodeled and the counseling offices
were put in. In 1969, the "new main" section of Washington
to the north was under construction and was completed in 1971. With
the new section came a new science wing, shop wing, cafeteria, and
library.
In 1972, an English-Social
Studies and Mathematics Resource Center were established and from
1976-1983, extensive remodeling of parts of the "new main"
section was done to accommodate equipment and offices for the Computer
Specialty Program.
Then in the spring
of 1984 another major addition was built...this time attached to the
"old main" building at the south end of the school on Sherman
Boulevard and Clarke Streets. This houses a new gym and a twenty-five
meter pool.
Washington High
today bears little resemblance to those original barracks. It is now
among the largest school buildings in the Milwaukee Public School
System.
7/28/2004:jk
