Школа Джорджа Вашингтона в Александрии отмечает 55-летие преобразования в среднюю школу

This year marks the 55th anniversary of George Washington High School’s conversion to George Washington Middle School. The school opened in 1935 and was the only Alexandria public high school for white students for 20 years. The city’s Black students attended Parker-Gray School. George Washington High School had an all-white student body until 1965, when the Alexandria public school system integrated. It remained a high school until 1971, and was converted into the middle school it remains today. George Washington High School’s famous former students include NBC TV personality Willard Scott and two members of The Mamas & the Papas vocal group – John Phillips and Ellen Cohen, also known as “Mama Cass” Elliott. Perhaps the high school’s most famous student was Jim Morrison, lead singer of The Doors band. Two other alumni were military hero Francis Hammond, for whom a naval ship and another Alexandria high school were named, who lost his life during the Korean War, and astronaut Guy Gardner. Besides its famous students, George Washington High School’s field was the site of two historical events. On Aug. 24, 1960, then-Senator John F. Kennedy kicked off a tour of southern states in Alexandria at the field. Kennedy went on to lose Virginia but win the presidency that year. In August of 1965, Joe Namath played the first game of his professional career at George Washington High School in an exhibition game between the New York Jets and the Houston Oilers. Houston won the game 21-16, but less than four years later, Namath led the Jets to a stunning upset of the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. The field also is home to a time capsule, buried in 1949 by President Harry S. Truman and others to celebrate Alexandria’s 200th birthday. It is to be opened in 2049 when the city turns 300. In 2002, the George Washington High School Alumni Association unveiled a Virginia Historical Marker at the school, recognizing its importance to both state and national history. The plaque reads: “The City of Alexandria purchased 15.5 acres in 1933 and opened George Washington High School in 1935. For two decades, this was the city’s only public high school for white students. The Art Deco-style building was constructed with funding from the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works, a New Deal agency that helped modernize the nation’s infrastructure during the Great Depression. “Later expanded, the school served as an important community gathering place for the arts and athletics. Alexandria’s school system was desegregated in 1965. This campus, which closed as a four-year high school in 1971 and later became a middle school, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.” Out of the Attic is provided by the Office of Historic Alexandria.