Benjamin Franklin High School history

By 1905, however, the city's only high school was so crowded that overflow classes were held in the newly built Summit.

From 1909-12, Franklin operated solely as Franklin High School, opening with 478 students and 19 teachers.

Activities popular during the first three decades of the school's history included chorus, which began in 1913 and later performed operettas with the school orchestra, a drama club, and publications.

The annual began in 1914.

Royal Brougham, who began his career as a sportswriter for the school paper, suggested the Quakers as the school nickname in 1920.

With the opening of Garfield High School in 1923, crowded conditions eased, but not for long.

In 1925, the district acquired property to the east and a new wing was constructed, adding a large band room, two art rooms, domestic science and mechanical drawing rooms, and 10 other classrooms.

Benjamin Franklin High School was built in 1928 on 27 acre parcel of land at the corner of Norton Street and Hudson Avenue.

The resulting project removed the 1958 addition and turned the space directly behind the grand windows into a student commons.

In a 1960 case, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit stated that Franklin was “one of the finest schools in the country for superior students” and as such, should be open to all of the students of New Orleans.

Orleans Parish School Board, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit stated in 1962 that Franklin was "one of the finest schools in the country for superior students" and suggested that African American students who met the school's exacting admissions requirements be admitted.

By 1965 Franklin’s spirit for excellence had taken root, and the school saw 38 of the 96 seniors recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Corp.

By 1972, Franklin's student body was very ethnically diverse, with 30 percent African Americans, 30 percent Asian Americans, and 40 percent whites.

In 1982, an engineering study warned that the aging Franklin building was vulnerable to earthquake damage.

Franklin relocated to its present location on the University of New Orleans campus during the 1989-90 academic year.

A lack of basic comforts, such as air conditioning, challenged an efficient learning environment.) With the Ben Franklin spirit and a hopeful vision, the school moved to the Leon C. Simon location in March 1990.

Visitors to the school included President Bill Clinton, who spoke with Franklin students on April 30, 1993 about his plans to create a National Service Initiative.

Franklin High School, Seattle, 2000

On December 8, 2005, the United States Ambassador to Germany, William R. Timken, Jr., accepted a "Band of Friendship" from the students of Clay Oberschule, Ben Franklin's official GAPP partner school in Berlin, Germany.

The school re-opened as a charter school on January 17, 2006, the 300th birthday of its namesake Benjamin Franklin.