The Bethel Park High School Class of 2009 will be the 100th Graduating Class of Bethel Park High School and its predecessor schools. The following is a brief history of Bethel Park High School.
When the Bethel Township School District began on June 21, 1886, education at that time was provided only to students in grades 1-8.
It was not until 1906 that the school district converted one of the classrooms in a three-room school house on Mollenauer Road (Bethel School near Mine Three) into a high school.
In those days, high school was a three year program and students only attended school for half days and for only one semester. The curriculum was basic; there were no electives and students purchased their own books. The high school program changed to a four-year program in 1914. Extra curricular activities began around 1920.
In 1908 the first Bethel High School was erected at the corner of South Park Road and Park Avenue, a building which is still standing today. The original building held two classrooms and an auditorium, employed four teachers and was constructed for $6,400.
The first Bethel High School graduating class was in 1909 with 15 students (10 girls and 5 boys) as members of the inaugural graduating class.
In 1927 a 10-room grade school was constructed near the high school on Park Avenue (the current site of the Bethel Park Community Center), and when enrollment at the high school level outgrew the original high school facility, the high school students swapped schools with the younger students in 1934.
Enrollment over the years kept increasing, which necessitated additions to the high school on Park Avenue. During the construction of a new addition to the school on July 11, 1939, a fire broke out and heavily damaged the building. But construction continued and on September 20, 1940 a dedication was held to commemorate the new addition to the building.
In 1949 a gymnasium was added to the Park Avenue school and in 1952 an upper wing was constructed to meet growing enrollment and student educational needs.
Over the years, Bethel kept growing and so did the student population. In 1956 the Board of School Directors purchased an 80-acre plot on Church Road, known at that time as McCormack Farm, and plans were drawn to create a campus environment. In the fall of 1959, sophomores, juniors and seniors moved to their six-building campus, which consisted of two academic buildings, library, auditorium/cafeteria, physical education building and boiler house at a cost of $4.1 million for construction and equipment.
The new Bethel Senior High School was dedicated on October 23, 1960, but the campus would not grow to its current size until seven years later. Phase II of the construction was completed in 1964 with the addition of another academic building and the industrial arts building. Phase III was completed in 1967 with the construction of the fourth academic building, football stadium and track, three tennis courts, seven basketball courts and a baseball field, as well as additions to the library, cafeteria and physical education building. Ten classrooms were added to Buildings 2 and 3 in 1969.
In June 1994 a 26 month, $20 million renovation included new roofs, ceilings, terrazzo tile and carpeting, site work, painting, elevators, plumbing and HVAC, as well renovations to the gymnasium/swimming pool and industrial arts building. All renovations were completed to the eight buildings by 1996.
Currently, Bethel Park High School is the only campus style secondary school in Pennsylvania, where students traverse the eight campus buildings on a daily basis--rain, snow or shine. In February 2008, the Bethel Park Board of School Directors voted to construct a modern, new high school building on the site of the current practice fields along Church Road. The current campus will continue to be used until the new building is constructed; then it will be demolished and the practice fields will be relocated in its place.
But what happened to the first two Bethel High Schools? In 1972 the first Bethel High School was converted into the School House Arts Center and in 1990 was given historic landmark designation by the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Association.
When the high school students moved to their new campus, the former high school on Park Avenue was used as a junior high school until it was put up for sale in 1974. It was sold to the Municipality of Bethel Park in 1975 for $1 and closed in 1980. It was demolished in 1990 and is now the home of the Bethel Park Community Center. Before the school was demolished, the Bethel High School compass-style floor emblem that was in the vestibule, linking the gymnasium and auditorium in the old school, was carefully removed. The emblem is 9’2” in diameter and constructed from terrazzo, and now proudly adorns the lobby of the Community Center.
The history of Bethel High school is sketchy from its early days until 1931, when the high school published its first yearbook, The Beacon, a name that still is attached to this annual publication.
