Duchesne High School (Utah)

Duchesne High School is a secondary school in Duchesne, Utah, USA, and is part of the Duchesne County School District. The school not only serves all of Duchesne City but also the communities of Bridgeland, Utahn, Strawberry, and Fruitland.

Name

Duchesne High school is named after the city in which it resides and after the river that runs through the town. The river was probably named by trappers in the 1820s after Saint Philippine Duchesne.

Facilities

The current structure was built in 2004-2005. The facility has two gymnasiums, one college sized basketball court and one smaller gymnasium left from the 1965 structure. English department with classrooms and separate writing lab. Science department with classrooms and separate lab. Utah State University provides onsite professors and distance education classes at the school so all students have the opportunity to graduate from high school with an Associates degree. Wood and metal shops. Auditorium, lunch room, and administrative offices.

Sports

Duchesne High school colors are blue,white, and gray; the mascot is the eagle. Duchesne high school sponsors a men's football team, men's and women's basketball teams, men's wrestling, women's volleyball, as well as a track and field team and cross country team. Duchesne High competes in the 1A division of the UHSAA. Men's teams have won state titles in basketball (1989), football (2006, 2010, 2011, 2012), wrestling (1981, 2008), and track and field (1993, 2004, 2005, 2011, 2012).^[1] Duchesne has sponsored athletes that have achieved all-region, all-state, all-American, and even a finalist for the High School Heisman in 2007.^[2]

History

1907 Duchesne Public School

Duchesne School 1926

Duchesne Utah Schools circa 1940

1905 – Duchesne city has hosted grades 1–8 since 1905.

1907-08 The first official school building was built.^[3]

1921- Ninth grade curriculum was added. More curriculum on the 10th grade level was added through the late 1920s.

1926 The original 1907 building was abandoned and a new Duchesne Public School was built that housed Kindergarten - 10th grades.
1931 On May 17, 1931 the Duchesne Public school held a graduation ceremony for four students that composed the first senior class.

1936–1937 – After acquiring land on the corner of 200 West and 100 North, construction starts on a separate high school building in June 1936. Ground water issues caused problems with pouring the foundation but was alleviated by installing tiles and channeling the ground water to the basement of the 1912 building, where it was pumped out to the street. The high school was finished in the late fall of 1936 and final payment was made to the Tolboe and Tolboe company for construction. The 1907 structure was torn down and materials used to construct the 40' × 60' "Manual Arts building" just west of the new high school.^[4]
1965 100 North street was closed down between 200 West and 400 West and a gymnasium, class rooms, science labs, and administrative offices expanded the old 1935 structure and the old 1926 building was torn down that hosted the elementary school. A new elementary was built North of the new high school and is still in use today. The new high school building included science labs, classrooms, library, and a new gymnasium. The old track was moved to the west of the high school.
1980~ – The old 1936 structure was torn down and replaced with a "wrestling" gymnasium, art room, wood and metal shop, more classrooms, and an auditorium.

2004 – 200 West street was closed between Main street and 100 North street. Most of the 1965 structure was torn down, except for the gymnasium, and replaced by the current two-story structure.

2011 – Houses along Main street and 300 west street were purchased and demolished to make way for the reconfiguration of the athletic field from an east–west configuration to a north–south configuration.

References