Original High School

Built in 1908-1910; Last Classes in 1926; Razed in 1939

Postcard
1910
Another postcard
BHS 1908 Engraving
1909 Fire Insurance Map showing first floor walls and roofline of the building, which had three stories and a basement
1912 Faculty
1920s quartet
Girls basketball players 1915-1916
Ritz Apts.
203 Hensley Blvd. has elements
Doorway at 203 Hensley Blvd
Postcard

The district's first facility exclusively for high school classes was opened in April 1910 on Dewey Avenue between 10th and 11th streets.

Patrons voted to build a high school in 1907 with bond issued but not sold, with more bonds were voted and passed in 1908. A location was selected on June 24, 1908 and a contract let on April 1, 1909.

Architect C.W. Squires of Emporia, Kansas designed a brick building with four floors plus a basement and clock tower. Graduation exercises were held for 13 graduates in this building although the students had actually attended Garfield their senior year.

1912 Faculty

In 1912-13, ten teachers and the principal taught Physics, Latin, English, Mathematics, German, Commercial Studies, Music, Art, Expression, History, and Economics for grades 9-12. Click the thumbnail higher on this page to view them.

Ritz Apts.

By 1924 the building, designed for 250 students, housed 373 and the district started planning an expansion at Central Junior High School. The last graduating class of 1926 included W.W. Keeler, grandson of both Nelson Carr, the first white man in the area, and George Keeler, co-founder of the Keeler-Johnstone Store. The building was abandoned in 1926 and sat empty for many years, with the district attempting to sell it. It was finally razed in 1939 to make way for the Ritz Apartments, a move reportedly welcomed at the time due to the structure's dilapidated condition.

Doorway

The building at 203 Hensley Boulevard incorporates elements of the original high school in its façade, including the arch and columns of its entrance. Click the thumbnails higher on this page to see.

That building over time was reputedly used for a variety of vices. Its façade includes stones in the shape of card suits. As of 2023, it was used for storage by SLB Artificial Lift Solutions, formerly Schlumberger/REDA.

Original High School Photo Archive
Quartet

Randy Wilson shared in 2018 that his grandmother, Gladys Louise Gray (later Wilson) attended this school in the early 1920s and was in the singing quartet. Pictured are Vera Loraine Milnor, Frances Harrison, Gladys Louise Gray, and Agnes Quigley.

The quartet sang songs like "Has Anybody Seen My Cat?, "They Always Pick on Me", and "The Baby Sister Blues."

Mr. Wilson shared that his grandmother used to quote the old Bartlesville High School cheer:

Ring around a rat tail, shinny up a tree!

Bartlesville High School! Ee! Ee! Eeee!

District History Pages