Chandler High School 5.53

Chandler High School is a high school located in Chandler, Arizona, United States. One of the oldest high schools in Arizona, it was founded in 1914, two years after the city was founded.The high school has an active athletic program and many rivalries with other local teams; the most prominent is the football rivalry with Hamilton High School.HistoryIn 1914, Chandler became eligible to host a high school. A separate high school district, featuring the same boundaries and executives as the elementary school district, formed at that time. The first high school subjects were taught that fall, with four teachers and nineteen freshmen using space at the Chandler Grammar School. Other classrooms were used after the 1914–15 school year, including local churches and businesses. The first students graduated in 1918, with a graduating class of three.Permanent buildingIn 1919, the first of two bond issues passed to allow for the construction of a permanent home for the high school. The two bond issues (in 1919 and 1921) provided $291,800, and a site at Arizona Avenue and Detroit Street, adjacent to the grammar school, was selected.The Los Angeles architectural firm of Allison & Allison designed the original plans, featuring a two-story Classical Revival structure (a departure from the Mission Revival of former buildings), a central auditorium, and two U-shaped classroom wings. Construction on the first phase, classroom space to open for the 1921–22 school year, began in the spring of 1921, at first performed by local contractor J. W. Tucker. After the 1921 bond, Kansas City-based Collins Brothers was the general contractor for the second phase. The entire project was completed on May 1, 1922.The new building featured state-of-the-art amenities like a physics lab, a domestic science room with kitchen, an auditorium with seating capacity for 1,000, and one "ultramodern" feature for its time: an electric clock and bell system. All classrooms were connected by telephone to a central switchboard at the front office. The exterior was made of cement plaster coated in fireproof stucco, with a tile roof and terra cotta trimmings. A formal dedication of the new building took place on May 10, 1922.