North America/United States of America/Texas/Galveston/Ball High School/

Ball High School

• Location & Contact Information
  • Address, Directions, & Map:
    • 4115 Avenue O, Galveston, Texas, United States of America
  • Telephone Numbers: 409) 766-5700
  • Official Website: [2]
• History & Memorable Moments

In 1881, the citizens of Galveston, authorized by the legislative act of 1879 which specified that all cities of a certain size could initiate and maintain their own school system, organized a public school district and elected a board of trustees. Some 20 teachers were employed to teach students in grades one through seven. Prior to this time, all education in Galveston was private or parochial. In the summer of 1883, a local dry goods businessman, George Ball, communicated his intention to support the establishment of a public high school in Galveston via a brief and simple note to the Galveston City Council. It read: "If the authorities of this city will furnish appropriate and sufficient grounds centrally located, I will contribute $50,000 for the erection of a building to be permanently dedicated to the use of the public free schools of the City of Galveston...I will be pleased to carry [this proposal] into the earliest effect with the hope that it may prove useful to the community with which I have been long identified and whose future welfare I most earnestly desire."

In the mid-1970s, a state-of-the-art media center was added at Ball High South campus and air-conditioning was installed for the first time. The forty-year-old school received a major 1.5 million renovation and update in 1980. The most recent repairs, in 2004 and 2005, were made possible through school bonds which were in political standstill for seven years. In the 2000s, rising real estate costs in Galveston forced many families to move to other areas, including League City, Texas City, and La Marque. This meant an influx of children out of Galveston ISD and into other school districts. If Hurricane Katrina evacuees and out-of-district students are excluded, Galveston ISD lost 12% of its students between the 2002-2003 school year and the 2006-2007 school year; Ball High School is affected as it is the only public high school in Galveston.

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  • Thoomppson, Christoppher (April 1971 - April 2003)
• Alumni Directory
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