Cedar High School History (From CHS Website)

Born in 1898 as a division of Branch Normal School, what would later become Cedar High School originally operated under the auspices of the University of Utah. But when the responsibility for running the school passed from the University of Utah to Utah State University in 1913, the school became the Branch Agricultural College--the progenitor of today's Southern Utah University. As the town grew and the number of students enrolled in the school swelled, administrators recognized the need for an independent high school. Hence, the creation of Cedar High School, where classes began in September 1940.

Located on Center and 300 West, this new school could accommodate 350 students. However, by the early 1960s, a student body topping 500 students crowded classrooms and congested hallways. Consequently, the Iron County School District spent just over $3 million to construct a larger high school located at 703 West 600 South. A state-of-the-art edifice, the new school opened its doors for the 1963-64 academic years with facilities for individualized programs for all students. (Although the old Cedar High School served as a junior-high for decades, administrators at Southern Utah University eventually acquired the building and in 2000 razed it to make a new parking lot.)

The growth of the Cedar High School student body hardly ended in the Sixties. To deal with this growth, in 1988 administrators added new classrooms on the south side of D Hall. Expansion continued in 1993, when administrators not only erected the current auxiliary gymnasium, ceramics, woodshop, and commons (now lunchroom) areas, but also added a basement to the school, so opening more classroom space. Taking even more dramatic action, in 1997 administrators sent approximately half of the student body to a new high school, Canyon View High School, built on the north end of town. To accommodate further growth--and to modernize the school's facilities--the Iron County School Board authorized dramatically remodeling the school in 2010, so launching a two-year construction project updating the school's lighting, electrical, and heating systems, and adding a suite of administrative offices, a new commons, a band room, a faculty room, and a biology lab.