The History of Catonsville High School

1903-1924

Catonsville School officially became a high school in 1903 when a tenth grade was added to the existing school which was located at Winters Lane and Melrose Avenue.  The brick building was constructed in 1898 at the cost of approximately $8,700 on the same site that previously housed a one room schoolhouse built in 1857.  Students learned reading, math and writing as well as Latin and German.  Girls were taught cooking by an itinerant teacher once a week.  In 1905 the first class of seniors graduated, consisting of four girls and one boy. By virtue of her last name, Katherine Ball was first to receive a CHS diploma.  The graduation ceremony was held at St. Timothy’s on June 24^th, 1905. 

As overcrowding became an issue, the auditorium was divided into classrooms and fourth graders were sent to a room in the post office to receive their lessons.  Soon residents of Catonsville petitioned the Board of Education for a new school building.  To help defer the cost, two hundred and forty Catonsville residents contributed $10,000 toward the $40,000 cost for the new building on Frederick Road.  Land for the school was purchased from Remus Adams, an African American blacksmith whose shop was just east of Bloomsbury Avenue.  The Frederick Road building was dedicated on April 29^th, 1910.  Students soon raised enough money to create a library with matching state funds.  Limited bus transportation was provided from Randallstown, Halethorpe, St. Denis, Arbutus and Relay, but many students found other ways of getting to school from greater distance.  Though designed for 400 students, the school was seriously overcrowded within ten years.  At one point 300 students were housed outside the original building.

1935-1953

In 1921, using money that the county had received from land and schools annexed by Baltimore City in 1919, the Board of Education purchased the grounds and building of the Catonsville Country Club on Bloomsbury Avenue.  In 1925 Catonsville High School opened and the dedication took place on November 9, 1925.  One of the surviving buildings from the country club was the Casino which was located behind the new building and housed the school’s cafeteria with its second floor serving as the principal’s residence. In 1930 two wings were added to the building to provide additional classrooms.

1954-1998

As time went by, it became apparent that, once again, the high school would need to expand to accommodate increasing enrollment.  In 1948, Frances Lurman sold the Farmlands Estate to the Board of Education.  The main mansion and greenhouse were torn down in 1950 but the Carriage House and the Caretaker’s House were incorporated into the high school campus.  The present building at the intersection of S. Rolling Road and Bloomsbury Avenue opened for students in 1954.  The showpieces of the new school were the auditorium, gymnasium and the adjacent industrial arts building.

Save for minor modifications, the 421 Bloomsbury Avenue building remained virtually unchanged for the next forty-five years.  By the early 1990s, however, it became clear  that the building’s infrastructure was unable to keep pace with both the needs of the school’s evolving instructional program and the increasing student population.

1999-2003

In 1994, under the direction of principal Donald I Mohler,III, a small committee was formed to propose a modest expansion of the school building.  This committee continued its work under principal Robert M. Tomback  in 1995.  When state and county funding became available for a 600 seat, 77,000 square foot addition to Catonsville High School, a new committee was formed.  Administrators, faculty, staff, parents and students worked on the design with architects and engineers to help plan the layout and usage of the new facility.  The decision was made to locate the school’s science, math and technology programs in the addition, as well as the school’s new library and fitness center.  The school’s art program was to be relocated to the former industrial arts building.

Ground was broken in March 1998; the building was open for students in August 1999 for the 1999-2000 school year.  Fortuitously, funding then became available for electrical and mechanical upgrades to the 1954 building.  Work began in 1999 that brought data, voice and video networking, new classroom and hallway lighting, and a new ventilation system to the school’s main building.  The renovation project’s final stages included the complete refurbishing of the Catonsville High School gym and replacement of the school’s track.