Ramsay High School
Ramsay High School | |
Birmingham City Schools | |
Years | 1930–present |
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Location | 1800 13th Ave. S., (map) Five Points South |
Grades | 9-12 |
Principal | Cassandra Fincher-Fells |
Enrollment | 758 (2014) |
Colors | royal blue & white |
Mascot | Rams |
Website | bhamcityschools.org |
Erskine Ramsay High School (originally Southside High School, later Erskine Ramsay Technical High School) is a large magnet International Baccalaureate high school serving over 700 students in the Birmingham City Schools system. It is situated between 12th and 13th Avenues South and 17th and 19th Streets South. The school's site, on a ridge north of the crest of Red Mountain near Five Points South was in the midst of Nabob Hill, a neighborhood claiming many of Birmingham's prominent pioneer families.
The school was designed by the firm of Warren Knight and Davis with William B. Ittner of St Louis, Missouri as consulting architect. The ambitious design called for massive multi-story facades facing north and south with lofty wings for a cafeteria and auditorium and expansive terraces. Only the south-facing portion of the central building was constructed originally. It's red-brick walls are accented with limestone quoins and window surrounds. The gabled roof is capped with a slender white cupola.
The school was dedicated on September 19, 1930. It was soon named for Erskine Ramsay, a noted industrialist who was serving as president of the Birmingham Board of Education at the time. Most of the first group of 568 students were transferred from the Paul Hayne School, then serving as an "opportunity school", providing vocational programs for high-school age students. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accredited Ramsay in 1932.
An auditorium and athletic facilities were constructed in 1949. A flat-roofed annex was added onto the main building in 1962. In 1975 Ramsay became a magnet school, serving average and above average students from throughout the city. The school currently has just under 600 students. The school annual is called the Ram's Horn.
$21 million worth of renovations and additions to the school's campus were completed in time for the start of the 2009-10 academic year, including a new science wing and competition gym with space for the school's ROTC program, counseling office, and cafeteria. After construction was completed the 1962 "flat top" annex was demolished to make way for expansion of the school's courtyard and parking lot.
In 2011, Ramsay was made the sole exception to Superintendent Craig Witherspoon's plan to establish career academies in the city's high schools. It remained a magnet high school with a college preparatory curriculum. In February 2013 Witherspoon announced that the school's 11th and 12th grades were admitted into the International Baccalaureate diploma program.
Alma Mater
On the city's southern border
Stands the school we love;
Hearts aglow and voices raised
send her praise above
Hail to thee, our Alma Mater,
Faithful we will be;
Long we'll love thee, Ramsay High School
And be true to thee.
Principals
- 1930 - : Thomas Young
- J. R. Gardner
- Jeanette Watters
- Evelyn Nettles
- Mark Sullivan, -2014
- Cassandra Fincher-Fells, 2014-
Notable Alumni
- Phillip Alford, child actor
- Charlie Blair, Birmingham Post-Herald editor
- Charles Brammer
- Houston Brice Jr, president of Brice Building Company
- Bob Burks, research chemist and environmental activist
- Samuel Burr
- Dellynne Catching, Miss Alabama 1968
- Kelley Dixon, film and TV editor
- Marvin Engel, real estate executive
- Fannie Flagg, actress and novelist
- Andrew Glaze, poet
- Wayne Rogers, actor
- Bobby Tanory, vee-jay
- Joe Rumore, 1941, radio announcer
- Leonard Weil, 1942
- Vaughn Mancha, 1943, football player and educator
- Ward McIntyre, 1948, television personality
- Sandra Sokol, 1953
- Lyn Spotswood, 1964
References
- "Ramsay High School (Birmingham, Alabama)" (September 26, 2007) Wikipedia - accessed March 30, 2008
- Schnorrenberg, John M. (1999) Remembered Past, Discovered Future: The Alabama Architecture of Warren Knight & Davis, 1906-1961. Birmingham: Birmingham Museum of Art. ISBN 0931394430
- Coman, Victoria L. (April 30, 2008) "Ramsay High renovation, additions could begin in summer." The Birmingham News
- Leech, Marie (February 27, 2013) "Birmingham's Ramsay High School officially an International Baccalaureate school." The Birmingham News
External links
- Ramsay High School website at bhamcityschools.org
- Ramsay High School football history from ahsfhs.org website
Birmingham High Schools | |
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Schools |
Carver High School | Jackson-Olin High School | Huffman High School | Parker High School | Ramsay High School | Wenonah High School | Woodlawn High School |