On October 7, 2023, the 100th Year Edition of the BLUE ACE BULLETIN was published commemorating 100 years of Wichita High School East. Thanks to Jake Jacobs, we have a copy of that paper and will present the articles from that publication to you. This is the second in the series. The original title is the title of this article.
The $1,000,000 bond issue passed in February 1921 provided funds for construction of a new Wichita High School. The cornerstone was laid on November 8, 1922, and the building opened for use October 8, 1923. Architect Lorenta Schmidt, described its architectural style as modified “Collegiate Gothic.” Although finished and in use in 1923, the new Wichita high school had no distinctive name, just a carryover from the old high school. Before the cornerstone was laid, the Wichita Eagle conducted a referendum to assist the Board of Education (which had quarreled for months over a name) in deciding upon a suitable name for the school. Woodrow Wilson, Roosevelt High, Thomas Edison, Sunflower, Ford and East Side were among the more than one hundred names submitted, but none of these suited a majority of the Board. They could think of nothing better than “Wichita High School.” Only when the Board decided in July 1928 to call the new north end high school Wichita High School North, did Wichita High School East obtain its own name.
