Washington High School (officially George Washington High School) 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 ...

Cedar Rapids Cedar Rapids () is the second-largest city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River, north of Iowa City and northeast of Des Moines, the state's capital and largest city. I ...

, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Iowa Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...

. Built in 1956, it is named in honor of the oldest high school in Cedar Rapids.

Background

Built in 1855, the original Washington High School—not yet known by that name—opened in 1857. In 1869, it narrowed from a general school to a high school. Originally called "the schoolhouse," the "Cedar Rapids graded school," and the "second ward school", it received its current name in 1875 when all the Cedar Rapids schools were named for presidents. The oldest building was called Washington School. In 1887, Abbie S. Abbott began her 34-year tenure as Washington High School principal. The school was expanded in 1910 to help deal with overcrowding, but the expanded room from the addition did not suffice for long. The nearby

vocational school A vocational school is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary or post-secondary education designed to provide vocational education or technical skills required to complete the task ...

Grant School was converted to a regular high school to reduce the burden. Deteriorating conditions at the original structure led to its abandonment in 1935. Four junior high schools in the area, which had been expanded in preparation, were converted to joint junior/senior high schools.

The present

September 3, 1957, was the first day of school at new Washington. Washington began with grades 10-12 and became a four-year high school in 1987. During the 1956–57 school year, students voted on colors for the new school and selected red and blue with white trim. They also picked the “Warrior” as Washington's mascot. In 1961, of classroom space were added to the south end of the building—12 classrooms. In 1971, the area under the library was enclosed to provide new office space for the counselors. In 1990, a new gymnasium was built to accommodate the increasing number of recognition assemblies. In 2003, a large wing of six classrooms and six science laboratories was added to the southwest corner of the building. At the same time, a new band room was completed and the entire original music area was remodeled to house the growing vocal and string orchestra programs. The first principal, Fred J. Kluss, had been principal at Roosevelt before coming to Washington in 1957. Kluss was succeeded as principal by Don Birdsell, who served for three years. Robert O. Fitzsimmons became principal in 1962. Donald G. Nau took over as principal in the middle of the 1966–67 school year. Ralph Plagman was principal from 1981 to 2017. John Cline was hired as principal on April 19, 2017.

Art gallery

In 2007 Washington High School opened an art gallery to feature the works of famous Washington alumni. The gallery includes works by

Grant Wood Grant DeVolson Wood (February 13, 1891 February 12, 1942) was an American painter and representative of Regionalism, best known for his paintings depicting the rural American Midwest. He is particularly well known for ''American Gothic'' (1930 ...

and

Marvin Cone Marvin Dorwart Cone (October 21, 1891 – May 18, 1965) was an American painter in the regionalist style.Walch, Timothy (2009)"Cone, Marvin Dorwart" ''The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa''. University of Iowa Press Cone was born in Cedar Rapid ...

, who both graduated in 1910 at the "old Washington" school. The gallery's centerpiece is ''Kanesville'', a mural Wood painted in 1927.

Notable alumni

Adrian Arrington Adrian Jarrard Arrington (born November 7, 1985) is a former American football wide receiver. He was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the seventh round of the 2008 NFL Draft and was called up from the team's practice squad before week 17 of t ...

- NFL wide receiver *

Alanna Arrington Alanna Lynn Arrington (born November 18, 1998) is an American model from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She has been on the cover of Maxim and Elle U.K. She is a model for Victoria’s Secret. Early life Born to Anthony and Amy Arrington, Arrington has ...

- Fashion model * Frank Baker - NFL wide receiver * Rob Bruggeman - NFL center *

Ashton Kutcher Christopher Ashton Kutcher (; born February 7, 1978) is an American actor, producer, entrepreneur, and former model. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a People's Choice Award, and nominations for two Young Artist Awards, a ...

- actor *

Arthur A. Collins Arthur Andrews Collins (September 9, 1909 – February 25, 1987) was a radio engineer and entrepreneur. He first gained national recognition as a teenager for significant advances in radio communication. He later founded his own radio engineering ...

- inventor *

- painter and art professor *

Don DeFore Donald John DeFore (August 25, 1913 – December 22, 1993) was an American actor. He is best known for his roles in the sitcom ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'' from 1952 to 1957 and the sitcom ''Hazel'' from 1961 to 1965, the former of w ...

- actor *

Paul Engle Paul Engle (October 12, 1908 – March 22, 1991), was an American poet, editor, teacher, literary critic, novelist, and playwright. He is remembered as the long-time director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and as co-founder of the International W ...

- poet *

Brenda Frese Brenda Sue Frese (born April 30, 1970) is an American women's basketball head coach and former player. Since 2002, she has served as the head coach of the University of Maryland women's basketball team. In her fourth year as head coach, she won th ...

- women's basketball head coach,

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of ...

Erik Koch Erik Jon Koch (born October 4, 1988) is an American mixed martial artist who competed in the Welterweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. A professional competitor since 2007, he formerly competed for the WEC. Background Koch wa ...

MMA Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incor ...

fighter * John Lipsky, economist *

Bob Netolicky Robert Netolicky (born August 2, 1942) is a retired American basketball player. A 6'9" power forward/center, he played professionally in the now–defunct American Basketball Association (ABA) from 1967 to 1976. Netolicky was a four–time ABA Al ...

- professional basketball player. Member

ABA All-Time Team The ABA All-Time Team were chosen in 1997 on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the founding of the American Basketball Association (ABA). It comprised the 30 best and most influential players of the ABA during its ten years and nine full regul ...

. *

George Nissen George Peter Nissen (1914 – 2010) was an American gymnast and inventor who developed the modern trampoline and made trampolining a worldwide sport and recreation. Background Born on February 3, 1914, in Blairstown, Iowa, Nissen became a ke ...

- developer of modern trampoline * Tyler Olson - Iowa State Representative from 65th District *

AJ Puk Andrew Jacob Puk ( ; born April 25, 1995) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Oakland Athletics. He played college baseball for the Florida Ga ...

- MLB pitcher *

Beardsley Ruml Beardsley Ruml (5 November 1894 – 19 April 1960) was an American statistician, economist, philanthropist, planner, businessman and man of affairs in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. He was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. His father, Wentzle Ruml, was ...

- academic *

William L. Shirer William Lawrence Shirer (; February 23, 1904 – December 28, 1993) was an American journalist and war correspondent. He wrote ''The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich'', a history of Nazi Germany that has been read by many and cited in scholarly w ...

- author * Carl Van Vechten - writer *

Dedric Ward Dedric Lamar Ward (born September 29, 1974) is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League for the New York Jets, Miami Dolphins, Baltimore Ravens, New England Patriots and Dallas Cowboys. He also was an assistant c ...

- coach and wide receiver in NFL *

- painter

References

External links

Official site
{{authority control Public high schools in Iowa Schools in Cedar Rapids, Iowa Schools in Linn County, Iowa Educational institutions established in 1956 1956 establishments in Iowa