Central High School was a public high school in the Central neighborhood of

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. It was established in 1846 and merged with East Tech in 1952. It had several locations during its existence. The school served white and African American students.

History

It was the first high school in Cleveland and the first free public high school west of the Alleghenies. The school began in a Universalist church basement. After Ohio City was annexed to Cleveland, West High School was established as a division of the school since state law allowed only one public high school in Cleveland.

Notable teachers

Helen Maria Chesnutt Helen Maria Chesnutt (1880–1969) was a teacher of Latin and the author of an influential biography and Latin text book. She was African American. Family life Helen Maria Chesnutt was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina in 1880. Her parents ...

, among the earliest women of color in American classical education

Alumni

Langston Hughes high school 1919 or 1920

* Charles Francis Brush, inventor and industrialist *

Benjamin O. Davis Jr. Benjamin Oliver Davis Jr. (December 18, 1912 – July 4, 2002) was a United States Air Force (USAF) general and commander of the World War II Tuskegee Airmen. He was the first African-American brigadier general in the USAF. On December 9, 1998, h ...

, first African-American to graduate from West Point since 1889. First African-American brigadier general in the USAF. Promoted to four-star general by President Bill Clinton. * Harry Edward Davis, lawyer and Ohio state legislator * Russell Howard Davis, educator, activist, and historian. An alumnus, he returned to the school as its principal. * John Patterson Greene, the "Father of Labor Day" * Louis William Greeve, industrial designer and pioneer in the aerospace industry * Marcus A. Hanna, businessman and U.S. Senator. Served as Chairman of the Republican National Committee. * Langston Hughes, poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist * Helen Haiman Joseph, the "grandmother of American puppetry" because of her practical and scholarly knowledge of marionettes * "Mickey" Katz, American musician and comedian who specialized in Jewish humor * Mary Brown Martin, the first African-American woman elected to the Cleveland, Ohio school board * Carman Sumner Newsome, African-American movie star, musician, and leader of a prominent jazz band * Lila Pauline Robeson, international opera star and the first Cleveland-born artist to sing with the Metropolitan Opera in New York *

John D. Rockefeller Sr. John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American business magnate and philanthropist. He has been widely considered the wealthiest American of all time and the richest person in modern history. Rockefeller was ...

, businessman and philanthropist. * John L. Severance, industrialist and philanthropist *

Noble Sissle Noble Lee Sissle (July 10, 1889 – December 17, 1975) was an American jazz composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer, and playwright, best known for the Broadway musical ''Shuffle Along'' (1921), and its hit song "I'm Just Wild About Harry". Ea ...

, African-American composer, bandleader and vocalist * Thaddeus Spratlen, business school professor *

Louis Stokes Louis Stokes (February 23, 1925 – August 18, 2015) was an American attorney, civil rights pioneer and politician. He served 15 terms in the United States House of Representatives – representing the east side of Cleveland – and was the firs ...

, attorney, civil rights pioneer, and politician who served 15 terms in the US House of Representatives * Rachael Walker Turner, African-American soprano * Joseph Louis Weinberg, Architect who pioneered urban-renewal and slum clearance efforts * Adolph Weinberger, founder of Gray Drug Stores, Inc.Weinberger, Adolph. Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. Case-Western Reserve University (https://case.edu/ech/articles/w/weinberger-adolph.Retrieved Feb. 18, 2022.)

References

{{Authority control High schools in Cuyahoga County, Ohio Defunct public high schools in Ohio Education in Cleveland 1952 disestablishments in Ohio 1846 establishments in Ohio Educational institutions disestablished in 1952 Educational institutions established in 1846 Central, Cleveland