Groton-Dunstable Regional High School - History

History

The earliest incarnation of GDRHS was as the grammar school that was held in Groton town center for which there are funding records as far back as 1758. The residency of the grammar school migrated between the district schools and in 1808 was kept for four months in District school number 1, then two months in number 2, two months in number 3, and two months in number five.

While Lawrence Academy had long provided private secondary school opportunities in town, a committee was appointed in November 1855 to consider establishing a new high school. On Monday, December 5, 1859 the first public high school opened in the lower hall of the Town House (Town Hall). For some time in the 1860s, the high school was held in the upper part of the Gerrish building at Groton Center, before moving into the new District Number 1 school, built in 1870 at a cost of $32,000. On March 2, 1874, the district schools, were named according to town vote with the high school being named Butler Grammar School after Caleb Butler, former principal of Lawrence Academy, and town historian. A new high school was built in 1927. Now known as the recently closed Prescott Elementary, it continued to be known as the Butler School for some time.

The regional school district was established in 1967 with the high school located on Main St. in Groton. In 1997, the school adopted 4x4 block scheduling. In 1999, the "new gym" at the Main Street campus was renovated and renamed as the Peter Twomey Youth Center (PTYC) in order to honor a then recently deceased student. The PTYC is now "...a self-supporting facility that provides space for youth athletic leagues, adult education, and youth groups in Groton and Dunstable." With the student population expanding from 370 in 1993 to its current levels, a new building was needed. In 2003 at cost of $35 million, the high school relocated to its current location near the border between the two towns it serves.