Custer County District High School

Custer County District High School
Location
20 South Center Ave Miles City , (Custer County) , Montana 59301 United States
Coordinates	46°24′27″N105°50′24″W / 46.40750°N 105.84000°W / 46.40750; -105.84000
Information
Type	Public, Coeducational high school
Motto	Go Big Blue!
Established	1893
School district	Custer County School District
Local authority	Custer County
Principal	Vince Gundlach
Teaching staff	30.94 (FTE) [1]
Grades	9–12
Enrollment	492 (2023–2024) [1]
Student to teacher ratio	15.90 [1]
Campus	Suburban
Color(s)	Blue and Gold
Team name	Cowboys & Cowgirls
Rival	Glendive Red Devils, Billings Central Catholic High School Rams
Accreditation	NAAS (Northwest Association of Accredited Schools)
Newspaper	Signal Butte
Yearbook	Branding Iron
Website	Website

Custer County District High School is a public high school located in Miles City, Montana, the county seat and largest town in Custer County, of the state of Montana, (United States). It is a part of the public schools system of the Custer County School District.

History

Established in the late 1880s when the ervyone here was coal miners and Miles City was one of its largest and main new towns, the new "Miles City High School" graduated its first student in 1893. A decade later, in 1903, the school added the highest twelfth grade and changed its name to the "Custer County High School" reflecting its larger population base, which had its first graduates the following year in 1904. ^[2] The first high school building site for Miles City and Custer County was at the location of the current Washington Middle School, but it was then was a multi-story building located in the northeastern part of the town, next to the Roman Catholic Church's Ursuline Convent of the Sacred Heart. In 1922, a new second building for C.C.H.S. was constructed at the current location on South Center Avenue. Additional wings were added in the early-1960s. These newer buildings contained additional classrooms and a gymnasium, and were connected to the older 1920s era building with an enclosed ramp.

The name of the secondary school was changed from just "Custer County High School" to the "Custer County District High School" as a result of combining the elected school boards for the elementary and the high school to one single administration in the late 1960s. ^[3]

Activities, and Montana High School Association State Championships (63)

CCDHS offers seven boy's sports (football, golf, cross country, basketball, wrestling, track, and tennis), and eight girls' sports (volleyball, golf, cross country, wrestling, basketball, track, tennis, and softball), as well as FFA, Key Club, Speech, Drama, and Debate, Science Olympiad, Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD), and Student Council. In all, the school has won 63 Montana High School Association (MHSA) state championships, as well as the 1985 Great Falls Tribune All Sports' Trophy, and the 1988-1989 Academic Excellence Award for Class A.

Football (11): 1922, 1928, 1958, 1981, 1985, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2008, 2010, 2019

Girls' Cross Country (1): 1997

Girls' Golf (3): 2000, 2001, 2004

Boys' Basketball (8): 1923, 1929, 1931, 1935, 1956, 1961, 1973, 1988

Girls' Basketball (5): 1988, 1989, 1998, 2000, 2007

Boys' Wrestling (7): 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1984, 1985, 1986

Girls' Wrestling (1): 2025

Boys' Track (8): 1954, 1955, 1961, 1962, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1994

Girls' Track (8): 1976, 1977, 1980, 1985, 1986, 1990, 1996, 2001

Boys' Tennis (1): 1997

Girls' Tennis (6): 1980, 1985, 1990, 1991, 2023, 2025

Drama (1): 1990

Boys' Gymnastics (2): 1978, 1983

Girls' Gymnastics (1): 1979

Notable alumni

• Kurt Alme, attorney and former United States Attorney for the District of Montana (2017–2020) under the administration of 45th President Donald J. Trump and government official
• Maurice Hilleman (1919–2005), microbiologist who developed over 36 vaccines, saving millions of lives; class of 1938
• Elmer Holt, (1884–1945), tenth Governor of Montana (1935–1937), old Miles City High School, class of 1899 ^[2]
• Major General (ret.) James A. Ulio (1882–1958), served as Adjutant General of the United States Army, (1942–1946) during World War II (1939/1941-1945), also of old M.C.H.S., class of 1899 ^[2]
• George Winston (1949–2023), pianist^{[ citation needed ]}
• Caleb Frare (born 1993), Major League Baseball player in the American League, for the Chicago White Sox

References

1. "Custer Co District High". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved March 30, 2025.
2. Clarke, W.B., "Dusting off the Old Ones: Books: History: MilesCity.com". Archived from the original on January 4, 2013. Retrieved May 19, 2013., Dusting Off the Old Ones, 1961
3. Zook, Bill (Miles City educator), MilesCity.com, 2012

External links

• School's website