Concord High School

Concord High School is a public high school in Concord, North Carolina, United States. First opened on September 2, 1895 (one session held in fall 1893), it is the oldest public high school in Cabarrus County and one of the oldest extant in North Carolina. It became part of Cabarrus County Schools in 1983 when Concord City Schools merged with the county school system. It is also a half regular high school and half IB high school History The Concord City Schools were created on May 2, 1891, upon passage of a citywide voter referendum. The system began with a single school building, the Concord Graded School (a pre-existing private academy purchased for the public school use), which first opened in December 1891. In September 1893, Concord High School was founded under the guidance of a professor from Salisbury, NC. It is not clear whether this first high school term was completed. But on September 2, 1895, with classes held in the "old Lutheran Church' on East Corban Street in downtown Concord, Concord High School opened for good. The first Concord High School principal was Holland Thompson from 1895 to 1899. Concord High School would continue in the old Lutheran Church building on East Corban Avenue through at least the 1902–03 school year. As the schools and community grew, so did the need for new facilities. A new voter referendum for school buildings was approved in 1902, and three new schools (Central Graded School. Number 2 School, and Concord Colored School) were built. Central Graded School was by far the largest of these schools, which opened on November 28, 1902 at the corner of North Spring Street and Grove Avenue. From 1903–1915 Concord High School appears to have been relocated to the Central Graded School campus, which housed all grades and was located at the present site of Coltrane-Webb Elementary School on North Spring Street. A picture of the 1914 Concord High School graduating class of 29 students may be found in the 1988 book, The Heritage of Cabarrus County. The picture was likely taken at the Central School. In 1913, Concord voters approved another referendum for school facilities, including a separate high school building. The Board of Education immediately received a gift of the old Lutheran church property on East Corban Street. On June 8, 1914, the board agreed to build a new high school with six classrooms and an auditorium on this site (later to become Clara Harris Elementary School).