How the New Huntington High School Came to Be

By the early 1950’s it was quickly becoming clear that the existing Huntington High School located on East Main Street and then known as Robert L. Simpson High School, was nearing the end of its usefulness. The building was deteriorating and it could no longer provide the spaces required for the educational and co-curricular programs.

Administrators and School Board members spent years organizing a plan to replace the building. A new educational program was developed, potential sites were identified and debated, residents were educated about the need for a new structure and the organizational ideas of teachers were solicited.

The district held a “Teachers’ Conference on Secondary Needs” on Wednesday, February 3, 1954. Various groups were asked to focus on specific aspects of the issue. The discussion period for “Group 5” included the following topics:

1. What effect will population trends have on [the] high school building program?
2. What kind of high school building is needed for our future secondary school program?
3. Can Huntington afford this building program?
4. How does the problem of non-resident students fit into the secondary school program?
5. What facilities are found in a modern high school building?
6. What special facilities would you like to see in a modern high school building?
7. How can teachers participate in planning a modern high school building?
8. How can teachers assist in selling a high school building program to the community?

Through most of its early history, Huntington High School enrolled many students from surrounding areas that did not have a high school of their own. For example, when Harborfields High School opened, Huntington lost a chunk of its student body. Still, the district’s population was growing and a clear need had been established for a new high school building.

Potential sites were studied by a committee and later by the School Board as a whole. Some were rejected because of topography, others for lack of acreage and some for their location or cost.

For a number of reasons, the existing site of Woodhull Intermediate School was one of the sites considered. It was adjacent to the site of Village Green Elementary School and the high school building on Main Street. However, it was rejected, although an elementary school was later built on it. (Interestingly, about a dozen years after it opened, the district tried to sell Woodhull School and the property it sits on to a nursing home operator. District residents rejected the proposed sale.)

Finally, residents approved a plan to erect a new high school on land carved out of the abandoned H. Bellas Hess estate. The estate consisted of a large tract of land containing an elegant mansion and grounds and was situated between New York Avenue and Oakwood Road.

Residents rejected a ballot question asking if a pool should be built at the new school. Voters did approve a proposal for a huge auditorium that could be used for community events, rather than building a smaller, more intimate one like the one at the old high school.

The new high school was built over parts of 1957-58. It cost $4,770,000 to erect. A 1964 building addition cost another $1.425 million. Final payments on the bonds were made during the 1994/95 school year.

Students moved into the new high school in November 1958 following a parade through the village form the old to the new structures. The old building was closed for several years, renovated and eventually reopened as Robert L. Simpson Junior High School. It closed for good in June 1976 and was eventually sold to the town for $1.