In February of 1915 the board of education paid J.C. Lang $500 for property at the northeast corner of 9th and Cherokee Avenue, formerly the site of the Johnstone home. A 1917 $100,000 bond issue built Central Junior High School at the site, the first Junior High in Oklahoma.

Designed to house 450 students in grades 7-9, the facility held 653 students by 1924 and a campaign for a $320,000 expansion to the east, which is the wider left portion of the building in the drawing shown at right. The school then accommodated grades 7 through 12 by 1926. The new addition featured an impressive auditorium which could seat over one thousand students and was noted for its acoustics. The English and music rooms featured small stages, and bookkeeping students were taught their skills in a new "imitation bank". The basement housed the manual training and auto mechanics rooms.

At this time Cecil "Lefty" Custer became the junior high football coach and later coached the high school team for many years, from a time when they were Yellowjackets to when they became the Wildcats. He also coached basketball, softball, track, swimming, and managed the town's Sanipool. Custer Field and Custer Stadium at College High were renamed in his honor after he passed away in 1953.

A year of junior college was added in 1927. By the time College High School was built in 1939, Central's green and gray halls were packed with 1,700 students and the uppermost grades left. The facility has remained a junior high/middle school since that time. In 1956 a home economics and cafeteria building was built just north of the main building for $157,287. The cafeteria kitchen was remodeled in 1968 for $12,150.

By the late 1980s the main building had deteriorated to a disgraceful state and the district seriously considered abandoning it. Community pressure to salvage the historic structure led to a 1993 bond issue that provided $4,462,748 to remodel the entire facility, including rebricking the exterior of the 1956 building to match the 1917/1924 structure. Community donations allowed the purchase of existing homes north of Central almost to Adams Boulevard, which were razed for a campus expansion and city park. The massive remodeling effort was completed in 1996. A phone system upgrade was performed in 2000. 2000 also saw the use of both school and community monies to purchase a dilapidated home at the northwest corner of the campus, which was then razed and its property incorporated into the park area.

As the school approached its century year the school board began considering a new middle school to replace both Central and Madison. However, recognizing the historical significance of Central, rather than being closed the school might be converted to house the functions now located at the Education Service Center and Will Rogers Complex.

1924 Bond Campaign Drawing

Central's 1924 Addition

Cecil "Lefty" Custer

Custer and a team of Wildcats at Central

Central in 1997

    Grade Configurations:

   Years             Grades
   1917 - 1926       7 - 9
   1926 - 1927       7 - 12
   1927 - 1931       7 - 13
   1931 - 1933       7 - 14
   1933 - 1939       7 - 13
   1939 - 1954       7 - 10
   1954 - 1982       7 - 9
   1982 - 1986       7 - 8
   1986 - present    6 - 8