The educational enterprise that has come to be known as East High School has been located in only three buildings over a 145 year history. The first building was built on Howe Street in 1856 on land donated by the Astor family. This building was known as “Old Brick” and continued to serve as the administrative offices for the school system after classes were moved to other locations. The beginning of East High School is generally attributed to Professor Furber’s decision to add Latin and Mathematics to the grade school curriculum in 1860. The first class of six students, 4 male and 2 female, earned their diplomas in 1875.
In 1893, a new building known officially as the East Side High School was built in the 500 block of South Webster. Unofficially, this handsome red sandstone building was referred to as “the school on the hill”, and the students attending the school were referred to as the “Hilltoppers” This building was dismantled after the current Washington Middle School was built and the red sandstone blocks were used to construct a garage, gatehouse and walls at City Stadium, the home of the Green Bay Packers. The garage and the North wall remain standing and can be seen just to the North of the current East High School building.
The core building of the current East High School was built on a 23 acre parcel purchased from the Hagemeister estate for $80,000.00. Construction was completed by the Fall of 1924 at a cost of $661,492.31. The class of 1925 was the first class to graduate from the new building.
Additions to the new building in the 20th century were made in the following years: 1927 (auditorium), 1960, 1967, 1985, and 1995 (new gym). In 2000, work started on a 21 million dollar renovation and was completed in June of 2003. One of the unique characteristics of the East High renovation is the emphasis on preserving and honoring the architectural features of the original building. The exterior of the addition matches the look of the South facade of the original building. The original tile hallway floors and the original stairways and banisters were refurbished rather than replaced. Many of the original wooden doors were refurbished and six rooms retain their original wooden floors, wood trim and built in wood storage closets. The decorative stone pieces originally on the exterior of the gym and auditorium have been relocated to the cafeteria, main lobby and hallways. Honoring our past is an important East High School tradition.
East High School has always served an ethnically diverse population. As new immigrants arrived in Green Bay, each group formed its own church. There were churches for Germans, Poles, Belgians and French immigrants on the East side of Green Bay, but the children of all of these groups attended East High. Throughout its history, East has served children from all ranges of the socioeconomic scale and taken pride in providing a quality education for every child who enters the doors. The student body at East today represents a rich blend of ethnicity, languages, culture and customs. East High students and staff are proud to say that East High looks like the real America and that attending East High helps students prepare for the world they will enter after they leave school.
East High School provides quality educational and co-curricular programs for its student body. College bound graduates score above the state and national averages on the ACT and SAT entrance examinations. East High School staff and students value achievement, effort, respect and caring. We are dedicated to the pursuit of excellence; we believe in the value of hard work; we believe that everyone is entitled to be treated in a way that preserves their dignity; we believe that people perform best in an environment where consideration and compassion prevail. Our students and staff are proud of our history and traditions and take pride in creating a learning atmosphere that encourages the pursuit of excellence.