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Leon High School

Public coeducational secondary school in Tallahassee, Florida, United States

Leon High School
Address
550 East Tennessee Street Tallahassee , Florida 32308 United States
Information
Type	Public coeducational secondary
Established	1831; 193 years ago (1831)
School district	Leon County Schools
Principal	Michael Bryan
Staff	83.74 (FTE)[1]
Grades	9–12
Enrollment	1,935 (2022-23)[1]
Student to teacher ratio	23.11[1]
Color(s)	Red and White
Mascot	Leo the Lion
Newspaper	The Leon High Life
Yearbook	The Lion's Tale
Website	School website
Leon High School in 2008
Leon High School
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Show map of Florida Show map of the United States
Coordinates	30°26′43″N 84°16′32″W / 30.44528°N 84.27556°W / 30.44528; -84.27556
Architect	T.A. Monk, M. Leo Elliot
Architectural style	Mission/Spanish Revival
NRHP reference No.	93000982[2]
Added to NRHP	September 21, 1993

Leon High School is a public high schoolinTallahassee, Florida, United States. It is the oldest public high school in the state, and is a part of the Leon County Schools System.

History[edit]

Leon High School is one of the oldest high schools in the country. It was founded 14 years before Florida became a state. It was founded as Leon Academies in 1831 in Tallahassee, Leon County, and helped shape education in the capital city. In 1903 it became the Leon County Graded and High School, which was originally set as the first public high school in Florida,^{[citation needed]} on the corner of Duval, Tennessee and Bronough Streets.

In 1911, a need for more room for the growing student population led to the construction of a second Leon High School where the LeRoy Collins Public Library now stands.

The current building at 550 East Tennessee Street was built in controversy. Built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) for $500,000, citizens thought the school was too expensive, too far out of town and much too big with its three stories.

The architect was M. Leo Elliott, designer of many public buildings of merit, including the Old Jail on East Gaines Street in Tallahassee.^[3] The builder was Thomas Monk, who built dozens of high schools and commercial buildings around Florida, including the Monk Building in downtown Bradenton, renovated in 2000. In Tallahassee, Monk also built the Mayo Building in the Capital area, and a house in Los Robles for his daughter and son-in-law.

Until school integration and the closure of Leon County's black high school, Old Lincoln High School, in 1967, Leon High School was for whites only. The Florida Constitution of 1885 mandated school segregation. ^[4] In 1954, the United States Supreme Court decided the case of Brown v. Board of Education, which was not implemented in Leon County, Florida, until 1969. Effective January 7, 1969, the Florida Constitution of 1885 was superseded by a new Florida Constitution, which does not contain any requirement for racial segregation. In 2019 the enrollment at Leon High was 33% black.^[5]

Athletics[edit]

Leon High School's mascot is the Lion, and their colors are red and white. They were one of the 29 original member schools of the FHSAA. They have been a member of the Association since it formed in 1920. Leon has teams in the following FHSAA sports:^[6]

Notable alumni[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Leon High School.

• Leon High School
• Leon High School website at the Wayback Machine (archive index)