Centennial High School (Pueblo, Colorado)
 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (January 2010) |
| Centennial High School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
 | |
| Information | |
| Type | High school |
| Motto | Simply The Best |
| Established | 1873 |
| School district | Pueblo City Schools |
| Principal | Tharyn Mullberry |
| Grades | 9-12 |
| Number of students | 1041 |
| Color(s) | Red and white |
| Athletics | Football, basketball, soccer, swimming, track and field, golf |
| Mascot | Bulldog |
| Website | http://centennial.pueblocityschools.us/ |
Centennial High School is a high school located in Pueblo, Colorado, United States. It serves roughly 1000 students in grades 9 through 12. The school is a part of Pueblo City Schools (District 60).
History
Centennial High School started out as a 16 x 20 foot structure built in 1873 at 421 North Santa Fe Avenue. Six years later, a larger adobe building went up at Eleventh and Court Streets. This school was first called the High School of District One, or Pueblo High School. When Colorado was admitted to the Union one hundred years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence (1876), the high school gradually began to be called "The Centennial", in honor of Colorado being "The Centennial State." At some point, locals dropped the article and began referring to the school as Centennial High School.
The adobe building was expanded beginning in the late 1880s, until a larger high school was mostly in place by 1921. This building served for over fifty years until a new campus was built at Mountview Drive and Baltimore Avenue in 1973. The old campus is now the site of a District 60 administration building.
The first graduating class in 1884 consisted of seven students. Well-known graduates of Centennial include David Packard (1930), co-founder of the Hewlett-Packard Company; Morey Bernstein (1937), author of The Search for Bridey Murphy; Edra Jean "E.J." Peaker (1958), a Broadway, film, and television actress; and many of the business and political elite of Pueblo.
The school colors are red and white, which is believed to date back to 1894 when a group of the school's girls wore red and white ribbons in their hair for a football game against Colorado College. The school's mascot, the bulldog, gained school-wide acceptance around 1912.
Centennial is part of what is believed to be the sixth oldest high school football rivalry, and the oldest west of the Mississippi River, with their annual game against cross-town rival Central High School. The schools first played in 1892, and the teams have met every year since except for the period between 1913-1919 when Centennial temporarily dropped football. The game is known in Pueblo as "the Bell Game", as the winning school takes possession of an old train bell which was donated as a trophy in 1950.
Notable alumni
- Hatfield Chilson, former United States Federal Judge
- John Davis, former MLB player (Kansas City Royals, Chicago White Sox, San Diego Padres)
- Benjamin Langbauer, broadcaster
- David Packard, founder of Hewlett Packard
- Lise Simms, actress
References
- Robert L. Collyer, Centennial High School Historical Edition. Pueblo, Colorado: Centennial Historical Society, 1973 (revised 1984)