Central High School has been situated in four locations, beginning with the first building in 1866.
1866 (third floor of Franklin School Building) Central High School was founded in 1866 in response to student requests. Before 1866, there were no educational opportunities in Saint Paul beyond grade school. About a dozen students wished to continue their schooling so, in 1866, two rooms were set aside for the "High School" on the third floor of the Franklin School building, located at Broadway and Tenth Streets in downtown Saint Paul. Some people thought that the school was a waste of space. Eugene Foster (known as the "Father of the High School") was the principal, and Mrs. H.M. Haynes was the lone teacher. The first graduating class of the
Saint Paul High School was in 1870, and consisted of two students: Fannie Haynes (the daughter of the teacher), and A. P. Warren. The first 2 diplomas were hand printed on sheepskin. Gradually, the classes enrolled in the Franklin Building became too large for the two little rooms to accommodate them.
1872 (Lindeke Building, 7th and Jackson, second floor) In 1872, the
Saint Paul High School moved to the Lindeke Building at 7th and Jackson streets where it occupied the second floor. That year, graduation exercises were held in the Saint Paul Civic Opera House where they were held until it was destroyed by a fire in 1899. Then the commencement exercises were held in the People's Church until the completion of the Saint Paul Auditorium. In 1872, the graduating class consisted of 12 students: five boys and seven girls. In 1873, the graduating class of 12 students originated the custom of presenting each senior with a souvenir appropriate to his/her character. For several years, a prize was offered for the best essay: a Webster's Unabridged Dictionary and a holder for it. The President of the Board of Education also presented a prize to the one having the highest standing in the class, usually a fine set of Shakespeare's works.
1883/1888 (10th and Minnesota) A new building opened in 1883 at 10th and Minnesota streets. The building was the first high school built in Saint Paul. In 1888, a 14-room annex was added for laboratories, but there was no money for an astronomical observatory. The Debate society decided to put on plays to make up the money to pay for it. Soon, Central was known as the only high school in the United States to have a fixed telescope with a lens ground and polished by the great telescope maker
Alvan Clark (1804–1887), whose company built some of the largest and best telescopes in the world, including the telescope for the
Lowell Observatory in
Flagstaff, Arizona.
Mechanics Arts High School, then known as Manual Training High School, was first housed in the basement of Central. The school was renamed
Central High School in 1888. Soon the building on 10th and Minnesota Street became too small, and the corner of Marshall and Lexington Avenues was chosen as the new site.
1912 (Marshall and Lexington) A new school, designed by
Clarence H. Johnston Sr., was built in 1912 on the corner of Marshall Avenue and Lexington Parkway, and was attempted to be renamed Lexington High School; alumni, however, wanted to keep the moniker
Central High School. A compromise was reached when the
Minuteman was adopted as a logo and
mascot. In other words, the name of the school was retained, but for those who wanted the school to be named "Lexington," its logo and mascot were named after the colonial militia men of 1775 at Lexington, Massachusetts, who fought against the British in the first skirmishes of the War of Independence, and were required to be ready at a minute's notice. The adjacent stadium was built in the early 1940s by the WPA (
Works Progress Administration), as denoted by a plaque on the brick facade of the stands. It was renamed
James Griffin Stadium in 1998.
1912 Marshall/Lexington building construction: Working name – West End High School
Proposed name – Lexington High School
Final name – Central High School
Architect -
Clarence H. Johnston Sr. - prominent Saint Paul architect, studied architecture in Saint Paul as well as MIT, and the
École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, travelled Europe and Asia. Also designed houses for Summit Ave, buildings for the University of Minn, many others.
Architectural Artist – JC Trott (employed by the architect)
Style – Collegiate Gothic
Land purchased – 1909
Designed – 1909–1910
Building Permit Issued – May 31, 1910
Builder – C. Ash Company
Construction started – 1910
Ready for occupancy – 1911 (old school dropped from City Directory)
Cornerstone laid – April, 1912 (building completed)
Flagpole installed – 1914
New gymnasium – 1924 (added to the west side of the school, replacing the old one in the top floor of the middle section; see 1925 yearbook, history of Johnston's career, and spps history document)
Stadium – 1940/1943 depending on the source (building permits or spps).
Cost for 1909–1943 – $650,000 (not counting maintenance, heating, etc.)
1970s and 80s (Marshall and Lexington) Rebuilding and modernization took place in the 1970s and 80s. Led by
Ellerbe Architects in 1979, the "castle" exterior was removed or overlaid with cement, a pool and other athletic facilities were added, and the interior was gutted and rebuilt. The building now uses only the structural frame of the previous building. This resulted in a joke amongst students that it was designed by a prison architect because of the school's rather utilitarian exterior, metal gates, and few windows on ground level.
Larry Millett, a local architecture critic described the building as, "The nadir of modern school architecture in Saint Paul, a building so resolutely grim and uninviting that it suggests that education can only be viewed as a form of incarceration." Until 2006 a barbed wire fence extended around
Griffin Stadium and portions of the school facing
Interstate 94 and Lexington contributing to the joke. In August 2013 the fence was replaced with new black vinyl fencing funded by the Lexington-Hamline Community Council, the St Paul School District ISD 625 and a Saint Paul Neighborhood Star grant. A parent-led effort to improve the appearance, function, and sustainability of the building, "Transforming Central," was initiated in 2011. ==Academics==