Innovation Central High School, founded in 1849 as Grand Rapids High School, is a public high school located at 421 Fountain Street NE in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The high school offers classes for grades 9–12. The school colors are Gold and Black, and the school mascot is the Ram.
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History
A previous school known as Grand Rapids High School was opened in 1849, and located in an old stone schoolhouse. New buildings were constructed in 1867 and 1893. A new school was constructed from 1910–1911, at a cost of US$435,000, and opened to students on January 31, 1911. The initial class incorporated students from grades 9 through 12, and some courses that eventually evolved into Grand Rapids Community College, which was itself founded in 1914. The high school had a large auditorium, the largest in Michigan at the time that the school was built, so famous figures such as presidents Teddy Roosevelt and William Howard Taft have spoken there. In 1947, the school's football team won the state championship.
In 2013, Central High School consolidated with Creston High School, with the consolidated high school now located on the Central High School campus. Creston High School's former campus became that of City High-Middle School from that year onward. In 2014, the school was renamed the Innovation Central High School along with the consolidation of the district's other career-oriented programs.
Notable alumni
Terry Barr (1935-2009), football player for the Detroit Lions
Hugh Blacklock (1893-1954), NFL player
John Melville Burgess (1909-2003), diocesan bishop of Massachusetts and the first African American to head an Episcopal diocese.
Roger B. Chaffee (1935-1967), astronaut
Rex Cherryman (1896-1928), actor
S. B. Conger (1872-1934), journalist
Robert Dean (Michigan politician) (b. 1954), member of the Michigan House of Representatives
Arthur Carter Denison (1861-1942), federal judge
Clarence Ellis (b. 1950), football player for the Atlanta Falcons
Betty Ford (1918-2011), former First Lady, wife of President Gerald Ford
Arnold Gingrich (1903-1976), editor
Paul G. Goebel (1901-1988), mayor
Ralph Hauenstein (1912-2016), United States Army officer, newspaper editor
Julius Houseman (1832-1891), politician
Charles Leonard (1913-2006), general
Buster Mathis (1943-1996), boxer
Thomas Francis McAllister, Federal judge
Gordon Scott (1926-2007), actor who portrayed Tarzan
Leo Sowerby (1895-1968), composer
Frank Steketee (1900-1951), football player for the University of Michigan Wolverines
Arthur Vandenberg (1884-1951), Republican senator who participated in the creation of the United Nations
Gilbert White (1877-1931), American painter [1]
Stewart Edward White (1873-1946), author
Elizabeth Wilson (1921-2015), actress