East High School (Phoenix, Arizona)

East High School was the high school for east Phoenix, Arizona, on 48th Street near Roosevelt Street. It opened in the fall of 1964 and closed in 1982 amidst sharply declining enrollment.

While the school was under construction, it was open in the fall of 1964, with double sessions at both Phoenix Union and North high schools. ( in the Tempe Union High School District experienced a similar situation.) The building opened on January 25, 1965. East was part of a five-year building campaign to add new high schools to relieve overcrowding in Phoenix; Alhambra High School and Maryvale High School also opened their doors.

An advisory council selected the school colors: their choices were scarlet, purple and white. The students chose the Longhorn mascot — one school board member found it an ill fit to the area. (He backed down, however, when reminded that there were Spartans as the mascot at one school.) The Longhorn mascot was a fit anyway, thanks to its location; it was just north of the old in an area known for its ranching heritage.

The land on which the school was built was the old farm of R.G. Langmade. Roosevelt Dam water was used to irrigate alfalfa along 48th Street and to maintain citrus groves. In 1956, the 58 3/4 acre property was sold to a J.T. Jackson, whose widow sold it to the district in 1959 at a cost of $4,000 an acre.

Construction began in September 1963. It cost US $3,242,800 ($25.4 million in 2017 dollars). This was the district's most expensive school until Trevor G. Browne High School was built. The new campus was more modern than others in the district, combining the library and audiovisual department into one instructional materials center. The library featured space for 17,000 books. The auditorium was delayed, opening in April 1965 (after the main buildings were opened). A health building opened in 1974, followed by an occupational education hall in January 1976.

East was built to service 2,500 students (levels it would reach by 1973). But with a student body of 700 and 33 teachers at the outset, many classrooms were vacant in the school's early years.

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