History of Campus (From USD 261 Web Site)
Campus High School opened in the fall of 1960. Its official name at that time was Rural High School district 191. It was formed to serve the elementary schools of Haysville, Oatville, South Riverside and Enterprise. The name "Campus" was chosen by the students who were to attend the new high school. Prior to the opening of Campus, students from these elementaries could choose between Derby, Clearwater or Wichita for high school attendance.
When rural H.S. 191 was formed in 1958, a bond issue of $4 million was passed to build two high schools. The present Campus High School was to be called North Campus High School and a second South Campus High School was to be built in Haysville at the corner of Meridian and 71st street. By the time Campus was completed in 1960, costs had run to $2.75 million with only $1.25 million left for the south high school. Construction on this South Campus High School began immediately, but only five buildings were completed. Campus High School opened in the fall of 1960 with an enrollment of approximately 1200 students.
Several things made Campus unique at the time of its construction. The obvious thing is its architecture. The story is that several school board members visited schools in the southwestern United States when looking at design plans, thus the unique layout of the facility. The facility was also unique at that time in that it had a pool, was air-conditioned and all-electric. Early drawings of the facility included an airplane runway along the northern boundary of the campus so the school could teach aviation. The south campus actually did have a runway, which was occasionally used until the late 60's. All of this combined to bring about much resentment in the community of Haysville. Rumors persisted for years that the facility had heated sidewalks. The builder had placed tunnels under the sidewalks to carry air to the buildings. This made and still does make the sidewalks heat up and melt snow, thus the reason for the rumors.
Public sentiment became even more negative when the Wichita district annexed part of Rural High School 191 in 1961. This took almost half the student population of Campus High School. The south high school site would remain empty from 1961-66. In the fall of 1967, Freeman elementary opened on that site.
Campus had 4 additions to the original facility in the past 40 years. the library has been expanded, locker rooms were added to the gym, classrooms were added to the west side of "G" building a new science building and gym addition were completed in 1999. (Much of this information was taken from a short history of the Haysville School, put together by Mr. Wayne Holt)
htt://www.usd261.com/campus/history.htm
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