History
The first high school was founded in 1901 as a two-year school by William R. Dorris, who became the first principal, according to Brian Keller of the O’Fallon Historical Society.
In 1900, the city had built a new building to serve as the elementary school. One room, Room 10, was set aside for the high school studies.
In 1903, the first graduating class of O’Fallon had only five people.
O’Fallon’s high school officially became OTHS of District 203 in 1920, and the original school song, “Blue and Old Gold” was first sung at graduation in 1925. The school's mascot is the Panthers, which the 1934 basketball team takes credit for choosing. According to Mr. George Bender, class of 1937, the basketball team visited a sports store in 1934 and was impressed by the large picture of a panther in the store’s display window. The team, not having a mascot of their own yet, liked the idea of using the panther. By November 1934, the team was nicknamed the 'Panthers,' a name which would eventually represent the entire school.
Read more about this topic: O'Fallon Township High School
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The thing that struck me forcefully was the feeling of great age about the place. Standing on that old parade ground, which is now a cricket field, I could feel the dead generations crowding me. Here was the oldest settlement of freedmen in the Western world, no doubt. Men who had thrown off the bands of slavery by their own courage and ingenuity. The courage and daring of the Maroons strike like a purple beam across the history of Jamaica.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)
“The basic idea which runs right through modern history and modern liberalism is that the public has got to be marginalized. The general public are viewed as no more than ignorant and meddlesome outsiders, a bewildered herd.”
—Noam Chomsky (b. 1928)
“If you look at history you’ll find that no state has been so plagued by its rulers as when power has fallen into the hands of some dabbler in philosophy or literary addict.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)