Facility History
Campus Additions
By March, 1949 the campus was packed with 1,042 students and bonds were voted to build a stadium and classroom addition. The amphitheater and tennis courts, which had often flooded, were covered with dirt hauled in from the downtown Phillips complex (Adams Building site).
Thus began many changes to the buildings and campus, as summarized below:
| 2000 | Middle-floor windows in the stadium replaced. New hallway created in field house to improve girls' basketball locker area. Asbestos removed from field house hallway ceilings, and those hallways given new ceiling, wall, and floor surfaces. New fume hood in one of the main building's science labs. New data network wiring and ports were installed in every classroom and office, and a telephone system upgrade. |
| 2001 | Large ventilation fans installed in field house with $2,000 donation from Phillips Petroleum and $16,800 in district funds. Additional electrical outlets and electrical panels added throughout the campus. |
| 2001-2008 | Building on Excellence: Over $23 million in improvements funded by a 2001 bond issue. A new science wing, library, auditorium and fine arts classrooms, field house, practice fields, and parking lots to be constructed, and a multimillion dollar renovation of the existing structures. |
| 2001 | The district acquired the CrestView Apartments south of campus (using funds outside of the bond issue) and razed the buildings. The site was left undeveloped, intended for future parking as funds become available. |
| 2002 | The new west & east parking lots, practice fields, and the renovated Haley Environmental Laboratory opened as Phase One of the Building on Excellence project. The district paid the city about $3,000 for a 5.15 acre parcel east of the old Haley Lab to expand what remained of the original 16-acre lab after much of it was used for the development of parking and practice fields. The package also included a small plot of land just east of the intersection of Shawnee Avenue and 18th Street, the former site of a sewage lift station. The district allocated $120,520 from a 2000 bond issue to pay for asbestos removal from the crawl spaces beneath the 1939 buildings. |
| 2003 | The new Science Wing opened as part of Phase Two of the Building on Excellence project. |
| 2004 | The new Fine Arts Center opened as part of Phase Two of the Building on Excellence project. The Chuck Doornbos Track (the original blue track surface is visible in this photo from August 2002) was renovated using $233,000 in interest from the 2000 bond issue and a $33,000 donation from the Doornbos family (Chuck's daughter Ami Preston & his granddaughters, including Darian Kedy & Dana Keirsey). The track re-dedication took place at the 2004 Homecoming. The old south gate of Custer Stadium was closed due to construction, and a new gate was constructed at the southeast corner of the football field. |
| 2005 | The Bruin is unveiled in the lobby shared by the new Fine Arts Center and new Field House. |
| 2006 | The new Field House opened with the completion of Phase Three of the Building on Excellence project. |
| 2008 | The new library/media center opened with the completion of Phase Four of the Building on Excellence project. Custer Field was renamed the E. H. "Ted" Lyon Field at Custer Stadium in recognition of a donation to install artificial turf. The classrooms in the main building, annex, and part of the stadium were repainted, new ceiling and floor tiles were installed in the stadium corridors, and the alley was repaved. |
| 2009 | The campus expanded again to include the property at 1800 Hillcrest Drive. The new Bruin Activity Center indoor practice facility opened, as did a new football locker room on the east side of the Bruin Field House. Custer Stadium had several improvements, with the deck sealed to prevent water infiltration, the leaking windows on the middle floor repaired, and the restrooms renovated. New student lockers were installed in the main building, annex, and stadium. The office areas in the main building were repainted, and remote-control security locks installed on the entrances to the main building and Bruin Field House/FAC. Additional LCD projectors and sound systems were installed in various classrooms. |
