Manchester High School (Connecticut) 4.73

Manchester High School is a public high school located in Manchester, Connecticut, United States. It serves 1,700 students in the Manchester Public School system.HistoryManchester High School was founded in 1893 with Fred A. Verplanck serving as the school's first principal. The first graduating class of 1894 had a total of six students. The school was held in the Ninth District School, where Bennet Academy is located today. In 1902, the wealthy Cheney family offered to construct a new high school building to accommodate the students' needs. In 1904, the new South Manchester High School opened on Main Street. The four-story building is in the Colonial Revival architecture style, with columns, cornices, and an arched entrance; these elaborate architectural details were designed by architects Hartwell, Richardson & Driver of Boston. The building included all of the modern amenities of the time. It was dedicated in December 1904. The Town of Manchester purchased the property, and the school, from the Cheney family in 1928, when the school became Manchester High School.The yearbook, SOMANHIS (South Manchester High School), was founded in 1915. Volume 100 was released in 2015. Volume 101 is set to be released at the end of the 2015-2016 school year.In 1956, a new campus on East Middle Turnpike opened. The graduating class of 1956 was the last class to graduate from the "old" school. The new Manchester High School is much larger than the original building, and was a state-of-the-art facility when it first opened. At the time of the opening of the new high school, Manchester High School was the largest secondary school in New England. In 2015, it is the current campus of Manchester High School. Most of the classrooms, as well as the library and main office, are located in the "quadrangle," a set of four hallways connected to make a square. The cafeteria is next to the Brookfield Street parking lot and has its own entrance and lobby. The gymnasium is next to the cafeteria, and the pool and an additional gym are nearby. Also on the campus are baseball and softball fields, a soccer/football field, and a track.