Henry G. Clift High School

Henry G. Clift High School

Education; Lee County, AL; Opelika, AL; Henry G. Clift High School; Opelika High School 1911-1918; Padgett, W.J.; Opelika Daily News

In 1918, Henry G. Clift High School opened on the site of the old Opelika High School on the corner of North Eighth Street and Seventh Avenue. Opelika’s city council moved to name the new high school after the town’s mayor. Contractor W.J. Padgett built the facility for $33,000. An Opelika Daily News columnist described the edifice of the structure as “constructed throughout of dark red brick with sandstone, of severe and simple lines,” and marveled at “a grandeur and magnificence that is almost indescribable.” The anonymous columnist also commented on the building’s modern amenities, such as drinking fountains, heating equipment, and overhead lighting in every room. Decades later, the deterioration of Henry G. Clift High School led to plans to erect a new high school building on Denson Drive. In 1959, the board of education began using the building that housed Henry G. Clift High School for forty-one years as Clift Junior High. A stone monument in the front yard of the private residence located at 663 North Eighth Street now marks the site where Opelika High School 1911-1918 and Henry G. Clift High School stood.

Taylor McGaughy

Image Source: http://ohsclassof52.bizland.com/id342.html

Text Sources: Clift High School, http://ohsclassof52.bizland.com/id342.html.

The Heritage of Lee County Book Committee, The Heritage of Lee County, Alabama (Clanton, AL: Heritage Publishing Consultants, 2000), 78.

Alabama Cultural Resource Survery

2014-11-26

Taylor McGaughy

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