Fresno High School is a four-year secondary school located in Fresno, California. Fresno High is the oldest high school in the Fresno metropolitan area and one of the few International Baccalaureate schools; in addition it continues to be the most populous and most diverse campus in Fresno. Elisa Messing is the 28th and current principal of Fresno High.HistoryThe growth of Fresno during the boom period of the 1880s brought about many changes, including the need to establish the city’s first high school in 1889. It was named Fresno High because it would serve all people in Fresno.The initial student body was 50 students with three teachers and three grade levels, ninth, junior and middle. A year later, Fresno High became a four-year school when the senior class was formed by those who passed the third level.The first classes were held on September 16, 1889, on the second floor of the K Street School, located at Santa Clara and K (now Van Ness Avenue) streets. T.L. Heaton was the principal. The curriculum was classical——four years of Latin, English, history, science, and math. In June 1891, the first commencement ceremony was held at the Barton Opera House. Seven students graduated.The new school quickly outgrew the available space and had to be moved to the White School, where the Memorial Auditorium is located today. Plans for a new high school building were developed. In September 1896, the school year began in the new building on 0 Street between Stanislaus and Tuolumne streets. The new back structure, with its clock tower, had the latest and most modern facilities, including a library, a chemistry laboratory, a gymnasium, and a theater-style lecture hall. Some people felt it was too far from town and that the land, which cost $7,500, was too expensive. In 1922, the school moved to its present site on Echo Avenue.
