Bossier High School (Louisiana)

Bossier High School
Address
Map
777 Bearkat Drive

,
71111

United States
Information
TypePublic school, college prep
MottoLead All Students to Find Success
Opened1917 (107 years ago) (1917)
PrincipalMichele Tugwell
Staff49.64 (FTE)[1]
Grades912
GenderCo-ed
Enrollment723 (2023–2024)[1]
Student to teacher ratio14.56[1]
Color(s)Green and white    
Athletics conferenceLHSAA
MascotBearkat
NicknameBearkats
NewspaperThe Bossier Bear Facts
YearbookLes Memoires
AffiliationBossier Parish Schools
Websitebossierh.bossierschools.org
Bossier High School
Bossier High School (Louisiana) is located in Louisiana
Bossier High School (Louisiana)
Location777 Bearkat Drive, Bossier City, Louisiana
Coordinates32°31′09″N 93°43′47″W / 32.51925°N 93.7296°W / 32.51925; -93.7296
Area3.5 acres (1.4 ha)
Built1938-39
Built byJames T. Taylor
ArchitectSamuel Wiener
Architectural styleInternational Style
NRHP reference No.04001078[2]
Added to NRHPSeptember 30, 2004

Bossier High School is a co-educational college preparatory high school in Bossier City, Louisiana, United States.[3]

Its former building on Colquitt Street, a Classical Revival-style building constructed in 1923, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998 as Bossier High School (Colquitt Street). Its current location on Bearkat Drive, with its International Style architecture, also was listed on the National Register, in 2004.[2]

The school's attendance boundary includes sections of Bossier City, a portion of Shreveport in Bossier Parish,[4] and the Main Area of Barksdale Air Force Base.[5]

History

Bossier High School was officially recognized as an accredited educational institution by the Louisiana Department of Education in 1917. The first school was located on Traffic Street in North Bossier, the present site of Bossier Elementary School. In 1923 a new high school was built to serve the city's rapidly expanding population, and this was expanded in 1928, but still was inadequate. In 1938 a new location was chosen on the historic site of Fort Kirby Smith, a Civil War Fort. Fort Kirby Smith was one of several defensive positions pieced together by the Confederate Army during the American Civil War (1861-1865) to protect Shreveport during the Red River Campaign. According to Gary Joiner's Through the Howling Wilderness: The 1864 Red River Campaign and Union Failure in the West, it was located to prevent an attack from the north, the east, as well as the southeast from Union aggression.[6] After the surrender of Shreveport in 1865, Fort Kirby Smith was dismantled and abandoned.

The present Bossier High School, a three-story building located at 777 Bearcat Drive, was built in 1938–39. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.[2] It was designed by architect Samuel Wiener in International Style. Due to rapid population growth, the city's Bossier High School (Colquitt Street) built in 1923 and 1928 became over-crowded, and this school was built to replace it. The former school was then devoted to serving elementary school levels. It was built by contractor James T. Taylor of Fort Worth, Texas. The listing included three contributing buildings.[7]

Construction of Bossier High was completed in 1940 and is the present site.

Athletics

Bossier High athletics competes in the LHSAA. The school's biggest rivals include Airline High School and Parkway High School.

LHSAA state championships

Basketball championships

  • (2) Boys – 2016, 2011[8]

Football championships

  • (2) 1942, 1948

Notable alumni

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Bossier High School". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved December 9, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  3. ^ "Bossier High School: Home Page". bossierschools.org. Retrieved October 10, 2016.
  4. ^ "Bossier High School Attendance Zone Map" (PDF). Bossier Parish School Board. Retrieved March 9, 2024.
  5. ^ "Barksdale Air Force Base Education". Military One Source. Retrieved March 9, 2024. - This is a .mil site.
  6. ^ [Joiner, Gary D. Through the Howling Wilderness: The 1864 Red River Campaign and Union Failure in the West, University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, 2006.]
  7. ^ "Bossier High School" (PDF). State of Louisiana's Division of Historic Preservation. 2004. Retrieved June 16, 2017.[permanent dead link] with six photos and two maps[permanent dead link]
  8. ^ LHSAA. "Louisiana High School Athletic Association Web site". Retrieved October 9, 2016.
  9. ^ "Hall of Fame: Bossier High School honors alumni," The Forum Newsweekly magazine, October 21, 2009.
  10. ^ "Eurlyne Howell". The Monroe News-Star. Louisiana, Monroe. July 24, 1958. p. 2. Retrieved February 3, 2017 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  11. ^ Owens, Tim (December 19, 2019). "Bossier's DeCamerion Richardson chooses Mississippi State". KTAL News.com. Retrieved February 21, 2024.