William Allen High School - History

History

Allentown High School was first established in a building on South Penn Street in 1858. In 1869, the first commencement ceremony took place - three students graduated. A new high school was built in 1894 (which is now used as Central Elementary School) at Lumber and Turner Streets. In 1916, a new Allentown High School was opened at its current location on Seventeenth Street. The Annex and Little Palestra were built in 1930, and the Linden Street Wing was opened in 1957. The school was renamed William Allen High School in 1960. In 1975, a Library-Science Center was built on the site of the Little Palestra. In 2010 a new 9th grade center was built on the site where the St. Cloud Building was located at the corner of Linden and St. Cloud streets. It was then dedicated as the "Clifford S. Bartholomew Building".

In 2010 and 2011, the largest and most expensive renovation in its history took place at William Allen High School while still maintaining the architectural features in the older structures, It resulted in a new building. Along with 1 Million Dollars spent in the auditorium to give students access to the most advanced stage equipment and to restore it to the beauty it was when it was first built, from new curtains, new seating, and restoration done to the historic plaster work that adorns the walls and ceilings, a stage extension was also built, and as one patron said, "Parkland may have a nice theater, but this is class". Also, all of the remaining buildings were gutted, and each one received new walls, new ceilings, new floors, new windows, new paint, new doors/ stair wells, and air conditioning throughout all 6 buildings. Along with new dance studios, art rooms, chorus and band facilities, and up graded science lab equipment, new tables in the cafeterias, a multimedia center, and upgrades in the black box theater, and hundreds of new and refurbished class room spaces, also, elevators were put in buildings that were without and accessible facilities were created for the disabled. In all the campus looks as fresh and new as the day it was opened.

The school is named after William Allen, Chief Justice of the Province of Pennsylvania and former mayor of Philadelphia. He founded the city of Allentown, Pennsylvania in 1762.