Dorchester High School (Massachusetts)

Dorchester High School is a defunct secondary school that was located in Dorchester, Boston, United States from 1852 to 2003.

Third home of Dorchester High School, 1925 - 2003. Current home of TechBoston Academy.

Second home of Dorchester High School, 1901–1925. Now Latin Academy Apartments

History

Dorchester High School was founded in 1852 in what was then the independent town of Dorchester, Massachusetts. In 1870, Dorchester was annexed by the City of Boston and Dorchester High came under the jurisdiction of Boston Public Schools.^[1] When a new school building on Peacevale Road opened in 1925, the student body was split. Dorchester High for Boys moved to the new facility, while Dorchester High School for Girls remained in the Codman Square building.^[2] In a Boston School Committee vote in 1953, the school again became co-educational when the Dorchester High School for Girls was closed.^[3] The school existed until 2003, when it was closed by the Boston School Committee to create the Dorchester Education Complex.^[4]

Locations

• 1852–1901 Dorchester Avenue at Centre Street
• 1901–1925 Talbot Avenue, Codman Square
• 1925–2003 Peacevale Road

Notable alumni

• Terry Anderson, former NFL wide receiver
• Ray Bolger, dancer, actor, starring as the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz (1920)^[5]
• Ivan Caesar, former NFL linebacker, Minnesota Vikings
• Frank Coombs, California legislator, U.S. congressman, U.S. Minister to Japan^[6]
• Norm Crosby, TV comedian^[5]
• Jack Hagerty, former college football head coach, Georgetown University
• Childe Hassam, Impressionist painter^[7]
• Aldro Hibbard, plein air painter^[8]
• Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, mother of President John F. Kennedy and three U.S. Senators (1906)^[5]
• Warren McGuirk, longtime athletic director, University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass)
• Otto P. Snowden, founder of Freedom House^[5]
• Freddie Summers, former NFL defensive back

References

1. "A Chronology of the Boston Public Schools". City of Boston via archive.org. Retrieved January 13, 2018.
2. "FIVE NEW SCHOOLS TO OPEN THIS FALL", Boston Globe, September 3, 1925
3. "17 Boston Schools to be Eliminated", Boston Globe, July 8, 1953
4. "COMMITTEE VOTES TO CLOSE FIVE SCHOOLS", Boston Globe, May 1, 2003
5. "Alumni / Dorchester Education Complex".
6. "Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress - Retro Member details". bioguideretro.congress.gov.
7. Helene Barbara Weinberg, Elizabeth E. Barker (2004). Childe Hassam, American Impressionist. Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.).
8. "Dorchester High School Girls Bring Christmas to Codman Square", Boston Globe, December 23, 1951

External links

• Dorchester High School at the Wayback Machine (archive index)
• Dorchester High School (profile) at the Wayback Machine (archive index) - Boston Public Schools

42°17′6.93″N 71°4′33.53″W