Waco High School

About this property

Waco High School is a public high school located in the city of Waco, Texas and classified as a 5A school by the UIL. It is a part of the Waco Independent School District located in central McLennan County. In 2015, the school was rated “Improvement Required” by the Texas Education Agency. Waco High School's attendance boundary includes sections of Waco and the Waco ISD portion of Woodway. The first home of Waco High School, or Central High as it was then called, was on the lot at Fourth and Webster streets in the early 1880s. There were two buildings, and one had formerly been the Episcopal church with the bell still in the tower. This was the only public school building west of the Brazos. In 1886–1887, these were replaced by a brick building, and in 1911, at Thanksgiving time, the new building on Columbus Avenue was ready for occupancy. Since then wings have been added to it and a building constructed as an auditorium and gymnasium. The old Baker residence, across the street, was purchased in 1942 for the use of bands and orchestras. In the 1970s, it moved to a new location on the corner of North 19th and College Drive, which is now the campus of McLennan Community College. In 1986, Waco High was consolidated with Jefferson-Moore High School and Richfield High School. The new school at the former Richfield campus on North 42nd Street used the Waco High name, but incorporated aspects of the other two schools into its identity. The lion mascot was adopted from Jefferson-Moore and the school colors (scarlet, white, and gray) were taken from Richfield. With the merger, Waco High was classified as a UIL Class 5A school. It moved down to the second-highest classification, Class 4A, in 2006. (Class 4A was then renamed Class 5A beginning in the fall of 2014.) Volleyball, Cross Country, Football, Basketball, Powerlifting, Soccer, Golf, Tennis, Track, Softball & Baseball 1922(All), 1925(1A), 1926(1A), 1927(1A), 1945(2A)^, 1948(2A) The Waco High Tigers saw much success under head coach Paul Tyson, hired in 1913, who was one of the best known and most successful high school football coaches in America. His teams at Waco High played in seven state championship games, including six consecutive appearances from 1922 to 1927. The Tigers won state titles in 1922, 1925, 1926, and 1927, with runner-up finishes in 1923, 1924, and 1939. In 1927, Waco High had one of the most dominant seasons in Texas high school football history. The Tigers scored an average of 56 points per game (a record that would stand until 1975, when Big Sandy scored 824 points in 14 games) while giving up only 2.4 points per game to its opponents. On two occasions Waco High scored more than 100 points, once in a playoff game versus Houston Davis. Roy Needham, Davis' coach, said "Waco could have beaten a good college team" that day.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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