History
Towards the end of the Great Depression of 1929-1940, the then small Howard County government, with its Board of County Commissioners and with the advice of the equally small administration of the Howard County Public Schools system, decided in 1938 to use available designated Federal funds from the newly organized agency to fight the continuing bad economic conditions and recurring high unemployment now nine years into the downturn from the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) programs of the "New Deal" policies of the Presidency of Franklin Roosevelt. Several of the policies begun in earnest was directing money and bus contracts to use fose close and consolidate many of the older rural one-room wood-frame construction schoolhouses and to begin consolidation / mergers using now more easily readily available gasoline powered motorized buses to transport pupils into several central modern schools of several rooms or floors of modern brick and concrete construction. Most of the county saw little school construction before because of the poor economy and earlier First World War. After the subsequent World War II, the economy roared back more prosperous and conditions improved dramatically as the millions of soldiers and sailors returned home.
The Howard County School Board recommended a single central high school for all white students in the county although there has been an earlier small Ellicott City High School in the county seat town. By 1949, a bill to authorize issuing state bonds in a bank loan seemed imminent to be passed by the General Assembly of Maryland (state legislature) and put on the coming election ballot for approval by the voters. So plans were refined for a future requested central high school serving the first, second and sixth county districts of the eastern side. [2]
A site was picked at the family farm of retired General and former Baltimore City Police Commissioner Charles D. Gaither (1860-1947), whose grandfather, George R. Gaither, had once raised Southern cavalry troops there for the famous General J. E. B. Stuart of the Confederate States Army and its Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War (1861-1865) on that site. [3] [4] Bids were opened on 26 April 1951 with prices ranging for architect drawings and construction from $838,000 to $683,000. [5] Four additional rooms for the new central high school were ordered the next year in 1952 for an additional $30,000 in expenses. 12 additional acres were also purchased from the Gaither family for $5,000, with board member Charles E. Miller contributing $2,500 for the construction of the land, construction and demolition of the "colored house and corn crib" on the property. [6]
Five names were considered in a poll for the new high school:
John Eager Howard High School,
Charles Carroll of Carrollton High School,
General Gaither High School,
Edwin Warfield High School, and
Howard County High School.
The school opened under the chosen name “Howard County Senior High School" in 1952. Two years later in 1954, Marie T. Gaither of the family offered 42 acres of adjoining land for $15,000 to expand the school grounds and campus which was for unexplained reasons declined by the School Board. [7]
A highlight of the Howard High commencement ceremonies at its 50th anniversary was the one once attended by United States Supreme Court Justice, Tom C. Clark who arrived by helicopter from Washington, D.C., 30 miles southwest. [8] The population is both culturally and economically diverse with over three quarters of the graduates enrolling in post-secondary institutions.
Catonsville High School (CHS) is a four-year public high school in Catonsville, Maryland. It is located on the southwest side of Baltimore County, Maryland, close to the Baltimore border near Anne Arundel and Howard County, just outside the Baltimore Beltway.
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The Howard County Public School System (HCPSS) is the school district that manages and runs the public schools of Howard County, Maryland. It operates under the supervision of an elected, eight-member Board of Education. Jennifer Mallo is the chair of the board. William J. Barnes has been the acting superintendent since January 2024.
Atholton High School is a high school in Columbia, Maryland, United States and is a part of the Howard County Public School System. The school hosts an Army JROTC program. The school mascot is the Raider.
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Severna Park High School is a public high school located in the suburban CDP of Severna Park, Maryland, United States. It is part of the Anne Arundel County Public Schools system.
Mt. Hebron High School is a public high school located in Ellicott City, Maryland United States. It is part of the Howard County Public School System.
Hereford High School is a four-year public high school located in the rural northern Baltimore County town of Parkton, Maryland, United States, as part of the Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS). The secondary school was established in 1953.
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Frederick High School (FHS) is a four-year public high school in the city of Frederick in Frederick County, Maryland, United States. A National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence, Frederick High is the oldest school in Frederick County, the school's diverse population reflects its surrounding dynamic community. Frederick High School opened in 1891 with girls and boys attending school in different buildings and matriculation occurring after three years. The former facility opened in 1939 and was demolished in 2018, with the current building opening in the fall of 2018. The school serves the city of Frederick along with Governor Thomas Johnson High School and Tuscarora High School.
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Charles E. Miller (1902–1979) was an American politician and businessman in Howard County, Maryland
