The high school was established in 1865 as the Fort Street English Day School. It was founded by Maurice B. Beckwith. In November 1869, it was moved to Princess Ruth's Palace. In 1895 it was renamed to Honolulu High School. In 1907, it was moved to the corner of Beretania and Victoria Streets and renamed President William McKinley High School, and finally moved to its present campus on King Street in 1923.[3]
On June 5, 1938, the school gave diplomas to 1,288 students, the largest number of diplomas in the history of the school.[4]
Student demographics
School Year 2010-2011
Enrollment - 1782
Number of Economically Disadvantaged Students - 1026 (57.5%)
McKinley has fielded girls teams in basketball, volleyball, and swimming as early as in the 1910s. Some years even fielded girls baseball team before softball became recognized as its own sport. The yearbooks of those early years noted games often against St. Andrew's Priory, YWCA, Palama, Normal School (later merged with University of Hawaii's College of Education), and even College of Hawaii (now known as University of Hawaii). McKinley was a founding member of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu in 1909 alongside Punahou and Kamehameha. In 1970, McKinley left the ILH with 4 other Honolulu area public schools to join the OIA.
The 1933 football team traveled across the Pacific Ocean and went on to defeat Weber College (now known as Weber State University), BYU freshmen team, and Ricks College (now known as BYU-Idaho).[5] Ricks College traveled to Honolulu the following year. McKinley won again by the score of 24-6 in a game attended by about 19,000 fans.[6]
Football
The McKinley Tigers varsity football team competes in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Red-East division. Joseph Cho has served as the team's head coach since 2010.
For the 2010 and 2011 seasons, McKinley's Tiger football team competed in the Oahu Interscholastic Association White Division (Division II) along with 7 other Oahu public schools including rival Kaimuki High School. In 2012, the football team was promoted to the OIA Red-East Division (Division I) where it currently competes with 6 other Oahu public schools. The Tigers' homefield is currently the 3000 seat Ticky Vasconcellos Stadium on the Roosevelt High School campus.
Finished ranked 4th in Division after losing in semi-final play-off versus Pearl City.
2012
Joseph Cho
3-3-0 / 4-5-0
OIA Red-East
Finished ranked 4th in Division after losing in wild card play-off versus Campbell.
2013
Joseph Cho
3-3-0 / 5-5-0
OIA Red-East
Finished ranked 3rd in Division after losing in quarter final play-off versus Campbell.
McKinley Athletic Complex
In September 2008, it was announced that McKinley was planning to upgrade its aging athletic facilities. Expected to cost more than $121 million, the upgrade has 14 elements including a 1,200 stall parking lot, construction of a second gym, renovation of the current gym, construction of a girls softball stadium, construction of a baseball stadium, construction of a 50-meter swimming pool, and construction of a 10,000 seat football stadium.[7][8][9]
In 2011, ground was broken on the softball stadium. When completed, the softball stadium will be designated as the OIA softball championship field.
Ford Konno (1952), four-time medal winner in swimming at the 1952 and 1956 Olympic Games, including two gold medals and two silver medals, set Olympic record in the 1500m free
Arthur Lyman (1932–2002), former jazz vibraphonist
Commercial building (B), with NRHP and Hiram Fong plaques
Art building (D), with owl columns
Walkway to Beckwith Hall (E)
Miles E. Cary Circle doorway to Beckwith Hall (E)
Miles E. Cary Circle doorway to Commercial building (B)
Doorway to Home Economics building (C)
Main administration building end wing
In Popular Culture
Several members of the cast of the ninth part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, The JoJoLands attend the school, including the main protagonist, Jodio Joestar.
References
Hawaii State Department of Education (n.d.). School Status and Improvement Report (School Year 2001-2002): President William McKinley High School. Retrieved June 16, 2004, from State of Hawaii Department of Education, Accountability Resource Center Hawaii Web site: http://arch.k12.hi.us/school/ssir/2002/honolulu.html