Red Lodge High School - The Building

The Building

The first Red Lodge High School was built in 1962, however in April 2009 the students moved across town into a brand new high school. Construction began in June 2008. With Collaborative Design Architects creating the design and Hardy Construction building, the architecture prides itself to be environmentally friendly and cost $7.3 million. Some of the features of the design are two computer labs, two science labs, and a spacious common area with a fireplace. In 2010, a full size tournament-size gymnasium (22,000-square-feet) that seats up to 2,300 people was finished. The gymnasium cost approximately $2.4 million dollars to build. $1 million was received from the Montana Department of Commerce Quality Schools Project Grant that the local physics and computer science teacher, Kirt Nell, and the State Representative Paul Beck drafted. The gym allows the town to host regional tournaments, which in turn brings more business to Red Lodge.

The community felt the need for a new high school because middle school students were forced to walk four blocks to access lunch and gym facilities, which meant that some students were walking back and forth between schools up to four times a day. The main concern was the safety of the students regarding both traffic and extreme weather conditions. After examining various options, the Red Lodge school board decided the best option would be to build a new high school, and migrate the middle school into the old high school. $2.2 million worth of renovations were executed on the old high school to update the building for a safer school environment.