Melrose High School (Massachusetts)
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Melrose High School (MHS) is a
public high school State schools (in England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand) or public schools (Scottish English and North American English) are generally primary or secondary schools that educate all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in pa ...
serving children in grades 912. It is located at 360
Lynn Fells Parkway Lynn Fells Parkway is a parkway in Greater Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. The road runs from the end of Fellsway East in Stoneham, eastward through M ...
in
Melrose, Massachusetts Melrose is a city located in the Greater Boston metropolitan area in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. Its population, per the 2020 United States Census, is 29,817. It is a suburb located approximately seven miles north of Boston. I ...
, United States and is Melrose's only high school. Enrollment for the 2010–2011 school year is 987 students. The school is accredited by the New England Association of Schools & Colleges (NEASC) and is a member of the
METCO The Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity, Inc. (METCO, Inc.) is the largest and second-longest continuously running voluntary school desegregation program in the country and a national model for the few other voluntary desegregation bu ...
program.


History


1868–1897: first high school

Melrose High School began teaching children in the 1800s and has called several buildings home. The oldest known location is on West Emerson Street where the Melrose Public Library now stands. On March 30, 1868, Melrose appropriated $20,000 for the construction of the high school on a lot located on the corner of West Emerson Street and Lake Avenue. An Additional $7,500 was added to the price tag of the school on January 19, 1869 and on July 15, 1869, the school was finished and dedicated. Almost thirty years later on January 25, 1897, a fire destroyed the building.


1898–1931: second high school

The building on West Emerson Street quickly became too small for the growing community and so at the
town meeting Town meeting is a form of local government in which most or all of the members of a community are eligible to legislate policy and budgets for local government. It is a town- or city-level meeting in which decisions are made, in contrast with ...
held on February 24, 1896, the town allocated $100,000 for the building of a new high school. The town selected a lot of land known as the "Old Burial Ground" on Main Street across from the Central Fire Station as the location for the new school building. On August 1, 1898, an additional $3,000 was appropriated for site work around the building. The school was dedicated on September 17, 1898 and at the time, was one of the "finest school buildings to be found in
New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
". Two additional wings were added to the main building and opened in 1909.


1932–1974: third high school

In 1932, another new school was built and the previous school building became the
Calvin Coolidge Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States from 1923 to 1929. Born in Vermont, Coolidge was a History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer ...
Elementary School. This time the new building was built on swamp land taken from Ell Pond on
Lynn Fells Parkway Lynn Fells Parkway is a parkway in Greater Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. The road runs from the end of Fellsway East in Stoneham, eastward through M ...
. It was a very large school, featuring a 900-seat Auditorium and a full size gymnasium. 1961 saw the addition of the Daffinee Gymnasium which contained new locker rooms for both basketball and football and also extra classroom space. The addition also included the construction of a three-floor annex attached by a bridge. Many historians praised the main building for its period design and architectural beauty.


1975–2004: fourth high school

In 1975, a new "modern" Melrose High School opened next-door to the old one, which became the middle school. This building is renowned for its "open spaces," which were large open areas with movable walls. Less than half of the buildings classrooms were in open spaces and the rest were triangular in shape. The school was supposedly built by an architect who also designed prisons and the building style reflects this. Numerous classrooms contain no windows and masonry is the main building material. Windows appear in a select few classrooms and are plentiful, yet most don't open. There is a constantly running air circulation system to combat the window problem and this also cools the building in the summer.


2005–present: renovations

In Summer 2005, walls were constructed in the second- and third-floor open spaces creating fourteen separate classrooms. The work was done in conjunction with the project to build a new middle school on the site of the third high school and done as a requirement of an NEASC accreditation report. For two years while the construction of the new middle school occurred, eighth-graders occupied the new classrooms. After Summer 2007, regular high school classes resumed in the former open space. On October 16, 2007, Mayor Robert Dolan announced that the building would undergo major renovations within the next four years. The $3–4 million renovation will include the installation of "SmartBoards" in all 78 classrooms, improved lighting, roof replacement, and repainting the entire school. The first phase, with construction that occurred in Summer 2008, costing $1.44 million and was for the installation and purchase of the "SmartBoards" and the electrical work needed to accommodate the additional technology for the boards. This phase also added or improved internet, phone, and cable television connections throughout the school. By the start of the 2008-09 school year, September 4, 2008, 70 fixed position smart boards and four portable ones were ready for use. During the year 2012 to 2013 the high school underwent major renovation of its science classrooms. The school put money into replacing all of its dated science classrooms with ones that include updated appliances and labs. The classrooms were finished and ready for use in September 2013. The newly renovated classrooms were completed with new computers and state of the art labs.


School life

The school has several successful sports programs, the most notable being the success of the girls volleyball, boys football, and girls lacrosse. In 2014, the girls varsity lacrosse team made the playoffs, the first time in the program's history and more recently, the 2017 and 2019 boys football teams won the Division 4 State Championship(s) after going 13-0 and 12-0 respectively. Also notable are the school's wide array of clubs, many of which are active within the community.


Notable alumni and faculty

*
Jalen Adams Jalen R. Adams (born December 11, 1995) is an American professional basketball player for Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Israeli Premier League and the EuroLeague. He played college basketball for the UConn Huskies. College career Adams arrived at Con ...
(born 1995), basketball player for
Hapoel Jerusalem Hapoel Jerusalem is a sport organization in Jerusalem as a local branch of the Hapoel movement. The branch was established in the 1920s and represents the city in more sports than any other sport organization in Jerusalem. Today, the club's leadi ...
in the
Israeli Basketball Premier League Ligat HaAl ( he, ליגת העל, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is the top-tier level league of professional sports, professional competition in Israeli sports club, club basketball, making ...
* Jane F. Desforges (1921-2013), hematologist *
Elizabeth Dole Mary Elizabeth Alexander Hanford Dole (née Hanford; born July 29, 1936)Mary Ella Cathey Hanford, "Asbury and Hanford Families: Newly Discovered Genealogical Information" ''The Historical Trail'' 33 (1996), pp. 44–45, 49. is an American attorn ...
, worked as a student teacher at MHS during the 1959–60 school year. * Ryan Johnson, 2002 graduate, plays
Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...
for the
San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchise ...
. * Sheylani "Shey" Marie Peddy (born 1988), basketball player. *
Frantzdy Pierrot Frantzdy Pierrot (born 29 March 1995) is a Haitian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Israeli Premier League club Maccabi Haifa and the Haiti national team. Club career College and amateur Pierrot played two years of colleg ...
, 2014 graduate, professional soccer player for
Maccabi Haifa Maccabi Haifa ( he, מכבי חיפה) is one of the biggest sports clubs in Israel and a part of the Maccabi association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Haifa which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as Football ...
in the Israeli National League. * John Quinlan, model and actor, former professional wrestler * Ken Reid, 1998 graduate, stand up comedian. * Edna Lamprey Stantial, suffragist and archivist * Garrett Swasey (1971–2015) was a competitive
ice skater Ice skating is the self-propulsion and gliding of a person across an ice surface, using metal-bladed ice skates. People skate for various reasons, including recreation (fun), exercise, competitive sports, and commuting. Ice skating may be perf ...
,
figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...
coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...
, and
police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...
. * Barbara Weeks was a film actress in the 1930s - 1950s.


References

{{authority control Buildings and structures in Melrose, Massachusetts High schools in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Public high schools in Massachusetts