The History of: Benton High School

In 1905, the St. Joseph Board of Education hired J. A. Bell to establish a high school in South St. Joseph. Although requests had been made for a high school to be established here, school authorities felt that the South Side would not send their children there. Those wishing to attend high school had to make a long trip to St. Joseph High School, then located near 14th and Olive Streets.

In September 1905 Benton High School opened its doors for the first time. The Board of Education rented the old English Hall at King Hill and Colorado Avenues until a new building was completed. In November of that year, nineteen students moved up the hill to the new buildings on the Northeast corner of Cumberland and Yale Streets. The school had only four rooms and was designed to hold grades one through twelve.

A new addition was made to the building in 1908, allowing the high school its own area and schedule of classes. In 1929, Benton became a junior-senior high school, offering course from the seventh to twelfth grade. In 1941, the seventh grade classes were discontinued.

By 1938, the school had outgrown the building at Yale and Cumberland. In that year, the Board of Education purchased a tract of land on Fourth Street, overlooking the boulevard system. A new building was constructed there and on March 21, 1940; Benton students made the long trip down the hill to the new school. The new building, containin thirty-seven classrooms, an auditorium, gymnasium, and cafeteria, was 320 feet long and three stories high. Total cost of the building was over $400,000.

The decade of the sixties saw several new additions to Benton. In 1961, a new gymnasim was added to the north end of the building. Named in honor of P.B. "Pop" Springer, long time coach and teacher at Benton, this 147-foot high non-pillared dome collapsed in 1971 and had to be replaced with more substantial flat roof.

in 1969, two additions were made to the building: a two-story, twelve room wing was added to the south end of the building, which included a library and rooms for the math, and social studies departments. A new art room was constructed at the same time, adjacent to the Industrial Arts wing.

A new athletic field was begun in 1974. An asphalt track and grandstands surrounded the field, running diagonally northeast of the building, with seating capacity of four thousand. In 1977, the field was designated the "Jim Sparks Memorial Field" in honor of the young Benton senior who lost his life during a football game on the field just a few months earlier.

Finally, on December 9, 1990, the dedication of Benton's Research Center and new addition took place. The new addition consists of 8,240 square feet of new construction and 4,866 square feet of remodeled construction. Included in the new addition are the computer labs, an electronic classroom and library. The second floor is comprised of a new art room, three new class rooms, and three office spaces.

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