Old High School

300 West Central Avenue

By the late 1880s, the Arkansas City school board was preparing to build a new high school building for the growing city. In April 1890, a design was accepted from Charles Sedgwick, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and work began July 10 of that year.

Robert Baird, brother of pioneer resident Thomas Baird, was the local contractor in charge. Baird relied on the expertise of Joseph Bossi, a stone cutter from Milan, Italy, for the ambitious design.

This Richardsonian Romanesque building was built with locally quarried limestone of a nearly white appearance. The builders decided to offset the pale color of this stone with red-colored mortar.

Vermilion, an ancient source for red coloring, was mixed into the mortar.

What the builders did not know was that the vermilion would interact with the rain, staining the limestone blocks with the red coloring. 

The high school would henceforth be known as “The Red School House.”

Artistic features of lions’ heads and dragons carved in stone, along with two massive chimneys and a clock tower, contribute to the spectacular appearance of this distinctive building.

(Ironically, clocks never were installed in the tower.)

The first high school class, with 194 students, started on September 7, 1892, although the building was not completely finished until 1893. It remained in use as the high school until 1922, when a new high school was opened. Arkansas City’s sixth-graders used the school until 1941.

After the last students left, the old high school was used by the USO during World War II, as a teen town, and also by the Red Cross.

By 1949, time had taken its toll and the school board was considering selling the old school. But interested persons suggested the building should be made available for the local junior college. A new chapter in the life of this old building began when Cowley County Community College acquired it in 1971. 

In 1974, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places and declared a state landmark.

After the college secured funding for a renovation of the lower portion of the building, which was completed by the summer of 1982, “The Red School House” returned to its original mission of education. The building was officially dedicated on December 12, 1982, and named after W.H. “Pat” Ireland, a strong community supporter who served on the college’s Board of Trustees for nearly 10 years.

Today, Ireland Hall is home to Cowley College’s Criminal Justice, Cosmetology and Institute of Lifetime Learning programs.