Washington High School is a public high school in Cedar Rapids, in the U.S. state of Iowa. Built in 1956, it is named in honor of the oldest high school in Cedar Rapids.BackgroundBuilt in 1855, the original Washington High School—although not yet known by that name—opened in 1857. In 1869, it narrowed from a general school to a high school. Originally called "the schoolhouse", the "Cedar Rapids graded school," and the "second ward school", it received its current name in 1875 when all the Cedar Rapids schools were named for presidents. The oldest building was called Washington School. In 1887, Abbie S. Abbott began her 34-year tenure as Washington High School principal. The school was expanded in 1910 to help deal with over-crowding, but the expanded room from the addition did not hold out for long. The nearby vocational school Grant School was converted to a regular high school to reduce the burden. However, deteriorating conditions at the original structure led to its abandonment in 1935. Four junior high schools in the area, which had been expanded in preparation, were converted to joint junior/senior high schools.The presentSeptember 3, 1957, was the first day of school at new Washington. Washington began with grades 10-12 and did not become a four-year high school until 1987.During the 1956–57 school year, students voted on colors for the new high school and selected red and blue with white trim. They also picked the “Warrior” to be Washington’s mascot.In 1961, 17625904sqft of classroom space were added to the south end of the building–12 classrooms. In 1971, the area under the library was enclosed to provide new office space for the counselors. In 1990, a new gymnasium was built to accommodate the increasing number of recognition assemblies.
