Mulberry High School (also referred to as Mulberry Senior High School) is a four-year public high school located in Mulberry, Florida, serving the city and surrounding areas.

History

Mulberry's then-only public school began high school classes in 1907. In 1909 the first high school building was opened, which later became the elementary school. In 1914, a second high school was constructed; it was a two-story brick building with six classrooms and an auditorium, costing approximately $12,500. In 1921, the first edition of the MHS yearbook was published, titled ''The Mulberry Tree'' in honor of the city's famed

mulberry ''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of diverse species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 identif ...

tree. In 1922, land was donated for the construction of a new high school, on the east side of what is now Northeast First Avenue; construction was completed in 1924. Also in 1924, MHS began inter-school

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

play. During the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, many schools cut their terms or lost their accreditation, and the state of Florida ran out of money, but MHS was able to stay open and retain accreditation thanks to taxes paid by area phosphate firms. In 1955, the current school was constructed on of land given by Virginia-Carolina Chemical Corporation and International Minerals and Chemical Corporation; the old high school was converted to an

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

, Purcell. In summer of 2020 ground was broken on the baseball field to begin construction on a brand new 3-floor high school done in the architectural style known as International. The new school will feature state of the art computer labs, collaboration areas with alternative seating, a 3-bay automotive garage, a robotics lab, an engineering lab, a new gymnasium, a courtyard, and new security features. It is set to be completed by December of 2021.

Notable alumni

* John Vincent Atanasoff (1903–1995), 1920 graduate: Inventor of the electronic digital computer. Graduated after two years; in 1985, the school's computer center was named for him. *

Dedrick Dodge Dedrick Allen Dodge (born June 14, 1967), is a former American football safety. He played college football at Florida State University and in eight seasons in the National Football League (NFL), from 1991 to 1998. He played in Super Bowl XXIX fo ...

(b. 1965): safety in the National Football League from 1991-1998. * Kenny Howes (b. 1970): musician * Bob Murphy (b. 1943), 1962 graduate: Professional golfer and sportscaster. *

J. T. Ready Jason Todd Ready (February 17, 1973 – May 2, 2012) was an American marine, founder and leader of a border militia group and a member of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement who sought the elected office of sheriff of Pinal County, Arizona. ...

(1973–2012), 1992 graduate: Notable

neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...

History

Notable alumni

References

External links