Doors first flung open by students in November 1908 will welcome alumni of Hellgate and Missoula County high schools several times in the next week, starting with an open house Thursday night at 7 p.m.
For the better part of a half-century, if you went to a public high school in Missoula you walked through the halls on South Higgins Avenue and your school colors were the purple and gold of MCHS.
Cohen co-authored and, three years ago, published “Purple and Gold: A 60-Year History of Missoula County High School” and he'll have the soft-cover books on sale and a collection of memorabilia from the old days to display Thursday in the Hellgate cafeteria at open house.
Parents of current students tour their kids' classrooms from 7-8:40 p.m. Alums are urged to come walk the halls and reminisce.
If they can't make it Thursday, there are several opportunities next week during homecoming week, said Assistant Principal Lynn Farmer.
“We're really stressing that alumni are welcome at Hellgate any time,” added Farmer, who said 100th anniversary pins also will be available.
Parents and former students of MCHS and Hellgate can visit classes next Tuesday through Friday and take part in homecoming activities that include the traditional bonfire at the River Bowl on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. and a pep assembly on Friday.
Visitors should also get a feel for the school's newest addition on what used to be Eddy Avenue. It now serves as a landscaped and well-used courtyard between the old building and an annex to the north built in 1981.
“Phase II of our Courtyard Project is going to be completed during this anniversary time, so that's another big thing, and actually we are still seeking donations for that,” Farmer said.
Among the trophies, play programs, yearbooks and other memorabilia Cohen plans to bring to the open house are old copies of Missoula County High School's newspaper, the Konah, first published in 1913.
“Student Sneak Last Tuesday Best in History,” reads a headline in the April 15, 1921, paper. The issue also includes articles headed “Missoula High to Have Baseball Team,” “Boy Cries in English Class” and “Faculty Member Now Flying High.”
The latter story tells of a teacher's recent purchase of a Model T “Henry.”
“It's reported, or rather it's true,” wrote an unidentified student reporter. “Miss Johnson, the mathematician, after much strenuous effort to be economical has withdrawn her savings from the First National Bank and invested them in a car, a Ford touring car, so she says.
“Now all you geometrists and algebraists don't need to prick up your ears, for she doesn't intend to give any of you a ride. The fact is that one of Miss Johnson's main reasons in buying a car is to take all of her students belonging to the ‘F' and ‘very poor' class out for a ride in hopes it will ease their tired brains.”
Among the photos Cohen will exhibit is one of the original MCHS building, designed by Missoula's most influential architect, A.J. Gibson. The school in the picture is without the various additions and remodels of subsequent decades, but boasts the recognizable three-story, brown and gray pressed-brick exterior.
Missoula's first formal high school graduation was held in 1886. Classes had been conducted for high school students in Missoula since the early 1870s, and school for students up to high school age was held as early as 1869.
“This was the first building actually built as a high school, and it was one of the few in the state at that time,” Cohen said. “The big thing as far as I'm concerned is that part of the building is still there.”
A north wing and gym were added in 1921. A new south wing, destroyed by fire on Sept. 15, 1931, after the first day of classes, was rebuilt. Much of it - the old band and weight rooms - were razed in 2001 and replaced the following year by a two-floor wing that houses the band program and administrative and counseling offices.
In 1942, the east wing that includes the present second-story gymnasium came on line.
The halls of what would be Hellgate were all but drained in January 1957, when sophomore, junior and senior classes were sent to the district's new South Avenue Unit, now Sentinel. A sharp rise in enrollment forced the return of sophomores to the Higgins building and prompted a decision in 1961 to “phase” MCHS into separate schools.
Seeley-Swan went into operation in October 1964. On Aug. 30, 1965, according to Cohen's “Purple and Gold,” doors opened at three separate Missoula County High School district schools for the first time. The three-story brick one on Higgins was called Hellgate, and has been ever since.
Big Sky High was added in 1980. In 1994, the Missoula high school district was combined with local elementary and middle schools to form Missoula County Public Schools, marking the formal end of Missoula County High School.
Open house
An open house is set for Thursday night from 7-8:40 p.m. Parents of current students may tour their kids' classrooms and alums may walk the halls and reminisce. Next week, take part in homecoming activities Tuesday through Friday that include the traditional bonfire at the River Bowl on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. and a morning pep assembly on Friday.
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