West Philadelphia High

West Philadelphia High School
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
The "old" main building. The West facing facade of WPHS. Formerly the Boys entrance
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Location	4700 Walnut St. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Coordinates	39°57′20″N 75°13′00″W / 39.9555°N 75.2167°W / 39.9555; -75.2167
Built	1912
Architect	Henry deCoursey Richards, Grays & Co.
MPS	Philadelphia Public Schools TR
NRHP reference #	86003345
Added to NRHP	December 4, 1986

West Philadelphia High School is a secondary school located in the West Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the intersection of 49th Street and Chestnut Street.

Principal: Mrs. Mary S. Dean
Assistant Principals: Ms.Taylor

West Philadelphia High School has over 150 full-time faculty and staff members, including teachers, teaching assistants, non-teaching assistants (NTA's) and maintenance and housekeeping staff. Because of the grand scale of facility, many of the staff and faculty are dived into "communities" that support subdivisions of the student body in various areas of the building.

The original West Philadelphia High School (WPHS) building opened in 1912 as Philadelphia's first secondary school west of the Schuylkill, occupying an entire city block bounded by 47th Street, 48th Street, Walnut Street and Locust Street. The student population at that time was in excess of 5,500. Such was the press on the new high school, which originally stood as two separate buildings for boys and girls, that the City was compelled to open Overbrook High School in 1926. A third high school, John Bartram, followed in 1935.

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

WPHS's athletic field, which is located at 48th and Spruce Street, was formerly known as Passon Field and home to Negro League baseball in the 1930s. It was the home field of the Eastern Colored League's Philadelphia Bacharach Giants starting in 1931, and the Negro National League's Philadelphia Stars in 1934 and 1935. In 1936 the Stars moved to Penmar Park at 44th and Parkside, where they played the majority of their home games through their final season in 1952. The field is still in use by West Philadelphia High School's football and baseball teams.