Hartford Junior–Senior High School is a public junior and senior high school located in Hartford, Kansas, United States, in the Southern Lyon County USD 252 school district, serving students in grades 6-12. Hartford has an enrollment of approximately 130 students and a teaching staff of 21. The principal is Douglas Hes. The school mascot is the Jaguars and the school colors are red and blue.HistoryThe first school in Hartford began shortly after the town was founded in 1857 when Mrs. A.K. Hawkes, wife of one of the founders, taught school in her home. In 1861, the Neosho Valley Educational Association elected a board for the purpose of locating and founding an institution of learning. After several months of deliberation the Hartford Collegiate Institute was founded in December 1861 by that board. School actually began in the "Old College Building" on October 14, 1863 with Solomon Lewis as teacher.By 1866 the school had grown to four teachers and 78 pupils. Thirty-three were classed as college preparatory, and forty-five were enrolled in the academic department. On April 8, 1867, Professor A.D. Chambers leased the building for 10 years and began an Academy. However the schism between the Methodist North and Methodist South churches and the hard times that hit in the 1870s made it difficult for him to maintain a school. The district school used the lower floor until 1877 when a two-story, four-room frame building was built in the northwest part of town. In 1883 an addition was made to this building.During the 1880s, a two-year high school was established and classes were in the "old frame building." Later the length of high school was increased to a three-year course and several of the sons of the pioneers graduated in these two-year and three-year classes. The high school remained in the frame school building until 1903 when it was transferred to the "Old College Building" which the board of trustees of the Hartford Collegiate Institute had transferred to the Hartford High School Board.
