History
Holland Christian Schools began operating in 1901 as a K-grade 8 school, meeting first in a church until a school building could be constructed on Central Avenue between 15th and 16th Streets. There were 130 students in the school, and the student population doubled within the next two years. By 1915, with 444 students enrolled, there was a need for additional space, and construction began on a school building on 15th Street. In response to parent interest, high school classes were added to the program beginning in 1918, with 9th and 10th grade classes included in the curriculum.
In 1920 a separate board was established to manage the high school, and 11th grade was added to the curriculum. The board began plans for a new High School building to be located at the "Y" formed by the intersection of River and State Streets. A 12th grade was added, and in 1922 the first high school graduation class of 10 men and women completed their Holland Christian education.
An open house was held in the newly construction High School building in April 1924. Shortly thereafter, the boards of the elementary and high schools merged, and a superintendent for the entire school system, James Hietbrink, was hired.
Holland Christian Schools experienced the same hardships as the rest of the country during the years of the Great Depression, and there were years in which teachers were owed back salaries for months in which there weren't enough funds to pay them, and the school was in debt. This debt was finally erased in a massive drive in 1941 with the theme "Liquidate the Debt. It shall be done, God willing, in '41."
In 1953, because of increasing enrollment and crowded classrooms, the high school was expanded with the construction of a second building known as the "B" building, located south of the existing building on 20th Street. The B building held eleven classrooms, a library, and a study hall.
The "Y" site served as the high school until 1967, when a new high school building was constructed on Ottawa Avenue to meet the educational and space needs of a growing school system. At that time, the "Y" buildings became the junior high school (and eventually the middle school) and served in that capacity until the construction of a new middle school on the Ottawa Avenue campus in 1983.
Read more about this topic: Holland Christian Schools
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