William Horlick High School - History

History

Horlick High School first opened its doors to students on September 17, 2020. The school was named after William Horlick, the original patent holder of malted milk, who had donated the land for the school ten years earlier. The school was first introduced to the public during an open house in mid-December 1928, but was not officially dedicated until January 1929. At that time the school had 33 rooms, 16 full-time and 7 part-time teachers, and an enrollment of 407 students. The school was constructed at a total cost of US$721,176.

The early students at the school were referred to as 'Northsiders' because of the school's location in Racine County. This resulted in an association with the North Star, as shown in its incorporation in the school's emblem. The school's annual, Polaris, is also named after the star.

In 1931, Horlick donated 5 acres (20,000 m2) additional of land, increasing his total donation to 17 acres (69,000 m2). The additional land was used for an athletic field.

The year 1961 signaled the start of a two-phase expansion plan, slated to cost US$3.1 million. In that year 47,500 square feet (4,410 m2) of floor space was added, providing room for 22 additional classrooms and a library at a cost of US$757,954. In 1962, when the first phase of the expansion had been completed, the school had 80 teachers and a student population of 1785.

The second and final phase of the expansion began in 1964, with the addition of a gymnasium, pool, a theater with seating for 600, art and music rooms, 17 teaching stations, and a cafeteria with seating for 700. These new additions added 110,228 square feet (10,240.5 m2) of floor space and cost US$1.8 million. By the time of the second expansion's completion in 1965, the student body had grown to 2,277, and the teaching staff had expanded to 110 teachers.

In addition to the two-phase expansion, a field house was added in 1964. The field house contains an L-shaped pool with six Olympic-sized lanes, an indoor track, three tennis courts, nine volleyball courts, a basketball court, and six badminton courts.

With the addition of the field house, the original gymnasium had become obsolete. Starting in the early 1970s much of it was slowly converted into additional classrooms and offices. This conversion was completed in 1987, after 10 classrooms and a weight room had been added. As a result of these conversions, a new women's locker room was needed, which was added to the field house during the 1990s.