Ottumwa High School - History

History

For several years, students in Ottumwa attended private classes inside area homes. Later, some students studied inside a local Methodist Episcopal church. In 1865, the first public school in Ottumwa—Adams School—was completed at "College Square", an area bounded by College, Fourth, Second, and Union Streets. The school, which utilized four classrooms on its top floor for the high school, cost $28,818.57 to build, and it sat on the same site as the present-day high school. It was declared unsafe in 1883. The school board voted to tear down the condemned building and build a new one at the same site. With more citizens coming to Ottumwa, an additional high school was constructed about a mile west of the Adams School site in 1899. This building later served as a junior high school until it was closed in 1982.

To address the growing student population, the Ottumwa Community School District began construction on the current high school building at the same location as the Adams School in 1921. The "new" high school was completed in 1923. As part of the construction, the Adams School was lifted from its foundation and moved east—it would serve as a building for vocational classes at the new high school.

Ottumwa High School as it stands today opened on August 29, 1923 to grades 9, 10, 11, and 12. It reportedly cost just over one million dollars to complete.

In the 1970s, an additional building was completed—the "Vo-Tech" building—for vocational and performing arts classes. The facility was connected to the main building via a skywalk accessible from the second floor hallway. This decade also saw the addition of a second gymnasium, often nicknamed the "Rubber Gym" because of its rubber floor, which was built behind the first gymnasium and replaced the Adams School, which was demolished.

In the 1990s, a city property tax was levied to help fund a multi-million dollar renovation project. The original aim of the project was to renovate the school hallways and some classrooms, add additional basement classrooms, relocate the cafeteria and library to a new area adjacent to the original building and connecting to the Vo-Tech building, renovate and modernize the school's gymnasium facilities (locker and exercise rooms), and remodel the school's auditorium. The project went over budget, and the gymnasium and auditorium phases were scratched. The cafeteria and library projects were successfully completed, along with the basement, classroom, and hallway renovations, by the end of the century. The skywalk formerly connecting the Vo-Tech and main buildings was replaced by the new building.

In spring 2001, the school received a grant for nearly $1 million from Vision Iowa to remodel the auditorium which is where they now hold all of their pep rallies, guest speakers, and drama productions. The auditorium was closed from 2002 to 2003 for renovations. Its grand re-opening took place on November 23, 2002.

The latest renovations to the Ottumwa High School building came in the summer of 2003, when renovations to the gymnasium facilities were completed with aid of a federal grant obtained with the help of Iowa Senator Tom Harkin.

In 2005, the school's front steps were the focus of a local controversy. The steps, which are in disrepair, needed to be replaced. A local architectural firm suggested two options: replace the steps with a similar staircase, or scrap the steps and redesign the building's entrance and facade. Although the architectural firm and local school board both recommended the cheaper option of scrapping the steps, a grassroots campaign of graduates spoke out against removing such an iconic part of the school. In August 2005, the school board decided to keep the steps, and no major decisions about what to do with them were made then.

Near the end of May the district decided to get rid of the steps in front of the school. The original idea was to just leave them off of the school and have a flat front of the building. As there were so many protests and different people against the idea the new plan now is to get rid of the steps and rebuild them. The steps had seen senior pranks that caused them to be painted with Sherman-Williams paint from the Ottumwa store, just a short walk from the school. Rebuilding them will cost around $3 million to redo, but they will be rebuilt with extra safety and better features to go with them.

The steps will soon have no passage way underneath them. Having air going underneath them causes them to rot faster. Also, the steps will be rebuilt with a heating system. This will increase safety on them in the winter time and janitors will have no need to go put salt on them in the mornings. Construction was finished in the 2006-2007 school year.