History of Milford High

A Short History of Milford High School

A history of Milford, CT, published in 1939 as part of the federal government’s Works Progress Administration (WPA) and updated in 1989, generally establishes that the first formal “high school” in Milford was approved on Feb. 14, 1842, when the Milford “School Society” - forerunner to the Board of Education - met to discuss establishment of a high school and reported:

“Whereas education tends to strengthen the mind and enlarge the capacities to soften the heart, to endear the affections and to improve the manners and thus prepare its possessor for greater usefulness and happiness; and, as the law makes provision it is therefore voted; that we establish a school of higher grade according to the provision of the 9th section of the Common School Law.”

A high school accordingly was established in the Town Hall, or “East Town House,” where it was conducted for decades until the “Yellow Brick High School” building was erected in 1908. Students of both sexes from 13- to 16-years of age were admitted to the first high school; those under 13 were accepted at the discretion of the Board of Directors, while those over 16, and non-residents, were admitted upon paying tuition of two dollars.

School attendance was not mandatory in those early years. “The first compulsory attendance law was passed in 1872 requiring all children between the ages of 8 and 14 to attend school at least three months each year.

The Board of Education was established on December 30, 1874, just six years after the “free school law” was passed by the Connecticut General Assembly that made it mandatory for the first time for towns to maintain its public school via public taxation. 

In 1874, the Town Hall and the Baptist Church were made into one building by the erection of a central connecting section. The colonial type building was in the shape of an “H” with an auditorium on the east side. The central part and the west side were two stories high and house the town offices, as well as the graded and high schools.

Interestingly, “the jail and the lodgings for transients were in the basement.”  This Town Hall structure was destroyed by fire in 1915, and replaced with the existing City Hall of today.

On Nov. 15, 1876, A.M. Drummond became the first principal of Milford High School. In 1883, Herbert I. Mathewson was made principal of the high school, later becoming Milford superintendent of schools.

In 1908, the new, 21-room yellow brick school building opened across the street from Town Hall and housed the central grade school, later known as Central Grammar School, and the high school. At the time, complaints were made that the building was too large for the needs of the town. However, in just a few years every desk was occupied and thus began an extended period of new school building throughout the town.

In 1951, the new Milford High School opened its doors directly adjacent to the yellow brick high school building, and remained open until 1983, when Milford High closed its doors for good.