Bessemer City High School is a four-year public high school in the Birmingham, Alabama community of Bessemer. It is the only high school in the Bessemer City School System. School colors are purple and white, and the athletic teams are called the Tigers. BCHS competes in AHSAA Class 6A athletics.BCHS was constructed in 2010 as a replacement for the aging Jess Lanier High School, which was founded in 1970 and named for the former Bessemer mayor of the same name. The name of the school was chosen by a poll of Bessemer students and residents. BCHS received 1,981 votes, compared to 671 for "Marvel City High School" and 665 for "Bessemer Millennium High School".CampusCompleted in January 2010, the $50 million high school was funded largely by a bond fund supported by a 1¢ sales tax increase in Jefferson County pushed through by then Commission President Larry Langford.BCHS is a 215,000 square foot facility perched on the high point of a 72-acre site. The main school building incorporates a curved steel roof and is clad with three shades of brick. Large expanses of glass wrap the L-shaped massive concourse connecting the three academic wings, arts, and athletics. The school accommodates 1,500 students with a 760-seat auditorium and a combination PE / competition gym which seats 1,500 for basketball games. The facility also has large choral, band, and jazz rehearsal spaces and a two-story career tech wing.On site with the main school are a new synthetic turf football stadium seating 4,500, a nine-lane track, a new restroom / concessions building, and a spacious new field house at the end zone of the new field. Also on site are a new baseball field and press box as well as a new softball field and press box / concessions building.
