West High School (Phoenix, Arizona)

West High School was a high school that formed part of the Phoenix Union High School District in Phoenix, Arizona.

West High School
Location
Information
TypePublic secondary school
Established1949[1]
Closed1983[1]
Grades9-12
Enrollment1,723 (1982)[2]
MascotThunderbirds[2]

History edit

West High School was one of five Phoenix Union high schools that were built between 1949 and 1957, the others being Camelback, Carl Hayden, Central, and South Mountain.[3]

The campus was designed by a group of local architects consisting of Lescher & Mahoney, Edward L. Varney, H. H. Green and Edwin Dwight Chenault.[4]

Declining enrollment during the 1980s resulted in the closure of West, along with North High School, Phoenix Union High School, and East High School.[3]

Metro Tech High School, then named Metro Tech Vocational Institute of Phoenix, was opened on the grounds of West High in 1985.[3]

Campus edit

The campus used to have an Olympic-sized swimming pool, but was later filled in. The site of the pool later became the school's cafeteria.[5]

The school also had a Foucault pendulum that was dedicated in 1959.[5]

References edit

  1. ^ a b "About Us / About Us". Metro Tech High School. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Arizona High School Enrollment Figures (1912-2005)" (PDF). aiaonline.org. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  3. ^ a b c "District Information / History". Phoenix Union High School District. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  4. ^ "Edward Varney - Part of team designing West High School, Phoenix, AZ 9". Arizona Republic. 1947-09-12. p. 27. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
  5. ^ a b Creno, Cathryn (1 July 2014). "17 historic schools in metro Phoenix". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved 3 December 2017.