Madison High School (Richmond, Kentucky)

Madison High School
Address
101 Summit Street Richmond, KY 40475 USA
Information
Type	Public
Established	1920
Closed	1989
Color(s)	Purple and White
Song	Washington and Lee Swing
Nickname	Royal Purples

Madison High School was an independent city high school in Richmond, Kentucky (Madison County, Kentucky). The school's enrollment (grades 9-12) never exceeded 400 and it never graduated a class of more than 85 students in its 70-year existence. The official name of the school was Madison High and Elementary School.

The transition from private to public school was rather gradual in Richmond. Between 1789 and 1910, several prominent academies flourished, but the public school system generally began on May 20, 1890, in an act of the general assembly of Kentucky. In that year the Richmond City School acquired the Madison Academy property, on which a new eight room building was dedicated in 1894. Several years later, two more rooms were added; and this building, known as Caldwell High School, was used for school purposes until 1921, when it was destroyed by fire.

On July 5, 1919, the Richmond city Board of Education leased the property of the Madison Female Institute for ninety-nine years. The Female Institute had been a famous southern finishing school for girls. Following the Civil War era Battle of Richmond, the building was used for hospital wards, where both Union and Confederate soldiers were cared for by teachers and students.

Caldwell was destroyed by fire on Wednesday, March 9, 1921. The Board of Education voted in favor of an $80,000 bond in order to erect a new building on the Madison Female Institute property. For the remainder of the school year and through the next two years (1921–23), the school was forced to use the county courthouse and churches to hold classes. In the fall of 1923, the Madison High School building was completed at a cost of $250,000. At that time, it had thirty-one classrooms, one music room, a science laboratory, three rooms for domestic science and manual training, a large cafeteria, a library, two office rooms, an auditorium capable of seating about 900 and a gymnasium. In 1950, new classrooms were added to provide more space, but by 1955 the entire building was so crowded that it was necessary to have double sessions in several grades. Later some of the churches were used for the first grade students until the new elementary schools (Bellevue and Mayfield) were completed in 1959. In 1962, a $135,000 renovation of the building was initiated. New dressing and shower rooms were added to the gymnasium. A new cafeteria and superintendent office were completed in 1963.

For twenty-two years (1939-1961), the school formed a unique relationship with then Eastern Kentucky State College and its laboratory school, Model. This was accomplished through the efforts of then EKSC president Herman L. Donovan and Richmond City Schools superintendent William F. O'Donnell. O'Donnell had been superintendent of Richmond City Schools since 1925 and later became President of Eastern in 1940. The schools were accredited jointly by the Southern Association of Secondary Schools as Madison-Model High School. The two divisions retained their respective organizations, but combined such activities as commencement, athletics, and music until the schools were separated after the 1960-61 school year.

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