Our Past Is Present June 25, 2018

June 25, 2018

            This is “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.

            Our community made the decision to build a new high school with no tax increase and to build that school on the west side of town. We thought our listeners would like to know that the original Junction City High School was opened in 1873, when the old McKinley building, which no longer stands, was used as the town’s first high school.  It was located in the 300 block of West Ninth Street where the Freshman Success Academy currently is.  That building was used at that site until 1904 for 39 years.

            When the enrollment became too large for the McKinley building, the high school was located at Sixth and Adams, which is now the Geary County Historical Society’s Museum.  That building was used for 25 years until the student population grew again and a new high school was built in 1929.

An addition was added to the junior high school, which was then located at Ninth and Adams Streets, and both junior and senior high school students attended at that site until 1958 during a 29 year period of time.

For the fourth time in 85 years, a new high school was built.  Again, the reason given was due to overcrowded classrooms.  The building had been designed for 900 students and there were 1,300 enrolled. The new school on Eisenhower Street, where the current Junction City High School is located, included grades 9 through 12.  And… 60 years later, our community is preparing a “New JCHS.”  Planning and design is currently being worked on by many people to create a building to meet the needs of students in the 21^st century.  Let’s support our USD 475 staff and Board of Education as they make important decisions about this project.  And thanks for reading today to “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.