Bloomington High School South - History

History

Bloomington traditionally was home to a single high school, called Bloomington High School (BHS). Originally BHS was a prep school for Indiana University, but later turned into a graded school. It was housed, for many years, in a three-story brick building — in what is, as of 2012, Seminary Square, and was considered Bloomington's central high school in 1864. BHS got more students over time and slowly evolved. The Gothic year book began in 1909 and The Optimist newspaper in 1911. Both were started by BHS and are still published in 2012.

In the 1920s-30s, University High School started, and was a closely located county high school outside the city.

In 1965, a new high school building was built for BHS on South Walnut street. When BHS vacated Seminary Square, the old building was turned into a middle school called Central Junior High School. On April 6, 1967, one of the middle school students burned down the building, completely destroying it. All sixty-five Bloomington firemen responded to the blaze. The building was demolished. The area was leveled and turned into Seminary Square.

In 1972, University High School and UnionVille High School (then, the two closest county high schools outside the city of Bloomington) were closed along with Smithville High School. "South" was added to BHS to create "Bloomington High School South," (BHSS) complete with mascot and school colors (purple and white), similar to that of the former BHS.

Later, the fall of that same year, as a result of the 1968 school consolidation plan which formed the Monroe County Community School Corporation, Bloomington High School North (BHSN) was built with students from the closed University and Unionville High Schools along with some transfer students from BHSS.

The zonal boundary that determines which Bloomington high school a student will attend forms a jagged line that criss-crosses the city. The map is such that one student who actually lives north of another, may in fact attend "South", while the other attends "North". The map can be obtained from the Monroe County Community School Corporation.

The two schools have remained contentious rivals in most sporting events since the creation of BHSN in 1972.

In December, 2012, a student was suspended from South for his alleged planning of a massacre at South similar to that of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT.