History
In 1891 the newly-incorporated Town of Oak Cliff voted to seek bids on a school building. The newspaper reported: “Resolved by the city council of Oak Cliff that the mayor be instructed to advertise for plans for a modern three-story brick school building with brick cross walls to be erected at Oak Cliff, Texas, to contain twelve rooms for school purposes and the cost of said building, complete, not to exceed the sum of $22,000,…” The cornerstone was laid at the corner of Patton and Tenth streets for the school in September, 1892 under the auspices of the Masonic grand lodge of Texas.Template:CORNER STONE Of the Oak Cliff Public School Building Laid To-Morrow, September 12, 1892, Dallas Daily Times Herald, p. 4, col. 1.
In 1891 William Hardin Adamson was named superintendent and Oak Cliff Central School operated at that location until a new building was constructed to house the high school in 1915 at the corner of Ninth and Beckley. The old building was then operated as an elementary school until 1926 when it was torn down and the students assigned to John H. Reagan and James Bowie schools and later to the new Ruthmeade School (now John F. Peeler). 201 East Ninth Street has been the site of a Dallas’ high school facility since 1915.{TWO SCHOOLS FACE DISCARD, April 12, 1926, Dallas Daily Times Herald, Sec. I, p. 13, col. 4)
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The school is named for W. H. Adamson, who became superintendent of the Oak Cliff School District shortly after moving to Oak Cliff in 1901. The school district later was annexed by the Dallas Independent School District, and when Oak Cliff High School was constructed, Adamson was named principal of the new school. He served as principal until 1934 and died a year later on 26 May 1935 at age 71. A week later, the school system renamed the school after Adamson.
Adamson High School was one of six high schools in Dallas in the 1930s and 1940s; the only other high school in Oak Cliff was Sunset High School, which was located about 19 blocks from Adamson High.
The location of Adamson High School is just four blocks from the Texas Theater where Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy, was captured.
The 1924 Oak Cliff High School football team won the state championship, one of only two DISD high schools to win a state football title (Sunset, in 1950 with the now-discontinued "City" championship, is the other).Carter High School was forced to forfeit its 1988 Class AAAAA title.
Around 2009 DISD planned to raze Adamson. Some Adamson alumni created a movement to have Adamson declared a Dallas landmark so that the district will be unable to raze the existing campus. DISD is acquiring other property so it can build the new Adamson.
On June 8, 2011, W. H. Adamson High School was granted historical status by the Dallas City Council. Additionally in June 2011 the school was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Read more about this topic: W. H. Adamson High School
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