North Kansas City High School is a high school in North Kansas City, Missouri, United States, with over 1,900 students enrolled. It is a part of the North Kansas City School District. The first graduating class found of record was in 1917 with three known graduates. The school began as an all-white school, due to the inhabitants of the community, and is now one of the most diverse and integrated schools in the nation. Since July 2001, Northtown has been an International Baccalaureate World School with Dr. Jane Reed as the program coordinator.
History
Throughout the school's history, several buildings have been built and torn down. Currently standing are the three-story Main building featuring the original theatre, Fieldhouse, and Norclay. Other buildings in use on the campus are the "Academy" and the North Kansas City Public Library and Media Center. Currently Northtown is being expanded and renovated. Northtown prides itself on its unique opportunity as one of the only local schools to have an open campus. The stone wall around the NKCHS football field was created as a works project during the Great Depression. It has been ranked the Most Interesting High School Football Field in the Kansas City area by the Kansas City Star, and has been used for local commercials, including Metro Sports. The current main building was contracted to be built the first of March, 1925 as documented in the 1925 NKCHS Owl Yearbook for a total cost of $190,000. The contract was awarded to Fritzlen & Hufford Construction in Liberty, Missouri. The 1926 NKCHS Owl yearbook describes the opening and dedication of the new building on Sunday afternoon, January 24, 1926 by Missouri Governor Baker. One of the buildings where classes were held was the Hiram McElroy Dagg building.
Mascot
The school's mascot is the hornet. Although many have thought the original mascot was an owl, no evidence of that exists in NKCHS yearbooks. There is, however, evidence of the hornet mascot in the 1929 yearbook. The confusion comes with the name of the yearbook from 1924 through 1949; which was The Owl. High school jewelry like pins also bore the image of an owl; however, there is no evidence that the owl was the school's mascot. In the 1929 Owl yearbook, the Pep Squad states, "All right, let's everybody give fifteen big "Rahs" for the "Hornets". In the 1930 NKCHS Owl yearbook, the hornet is shown on basketball players' shirts.
Yearbook
The Owl yearbook was printed from 1924 through 1949. No yearbook was printed in 1933, 1932 or 1927 for reasons unknown. The school adopted a new name for the yearbook in 1950: the Purgold.
Athletics
In the 2019 season, the women's basketball team defeated Jefferson City High School in the state championship game. Head Coach Jeff Lacy was also named Coach of the Year. Competitive teams include: Men's and women's teams
Mark Patton, Class of 1976, actor, Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddie's Revenge, Come Back To The Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, Never Sleep Again - The Elm Street Legacy; soap opera General Hospital
