Thompson High School

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Thompson High School
Thompson HS rendering.jpg
Established 1921
School type Public
District Alabaster City Schools
Grades 9-12
Principal Daniel Steele
Enrollment 1,873 (2017)
Colors red, black & white
Mascot Warriors
Location 1921 Warrior Parkway
Alabaster
Website ths.alabasterschools.org

Thompson High School is a high school in the Alabaster City Schools system. It first opened in 1921 and has been replaced by new buildings in 1952, 1987 and 2018.

Thomas Carlyle Thompson, chairman of Buck Creek Mill, donated the land for a new high school in the Siluria vicinity, to be operated as part of the Shelby County Schools system. Local citizens joined the mill owner in funding construction, and the new school opened on October 3, 1921. A second 8-room brick schoolhouse was constructed in 1949-50. The original building was destroyed in a January 25, 1951 fire and soon replaced by a brick structure added onto the newly-constructed classroom annex. The new school was completed in 1952.

The Thompson Warriors football team, coached by Larry Simmons, won the state 3A championship in 1982.

The 1952 building was replaced with a new campus, which graduated its first class in the spring of 1988. The adjoining Larry Simmons Stadium was dedicated on October 30, 1992. The 1952 building was remodeled in 2009 as the Linda Nolen Learning Center, now the Thompson Sixth Grade Center.

The Alabaster City Council voted on October 17, 2011 to form a separate school district, and appointed five citizens to the new Alabaster Board of Education on March 5, 2012. The district officially split on July 1, 2013 with Thompson as the system's only high school.

Planning for a replacement high school building began soon afterward. It is located a mile away from the previous campus, between Thompson Road and Kent Dairy Road. McKee & Associates of Montgomery was commissioned to prepare the architectural design for a campus with 103 classrooms, 21 laboratories, an auditorium, media center, 625-seat lunchroom, 2,500-seat arena-style gym, 500-seat practice gym, and a vocational wing with engineering and health science equipment. Storm shelters were provided in interior areas of the building. The interior finishes are predominantly gray with accents in the school's colors of red, white and black.

An adjacent athletic complex includes a football stadium, separate soccer, softball and baseball fields, a golf practice area, and indoor facilities for weight training, track & field, and athletic department offices and storage.

The $88 million project was financed through a municipal bond issue.

Alma mater

'Tween the hills of Old Siluria,

Nestles Thompson High.
Hail to thee, our Alma Mater,
Neath the Southern skies.

Long between the walls we’ve lingered,
All with kindred minds.
We, to thee, and to each other,
Find a tie that binds.

Soon we’ll leave thee, Thompson High School
As the years roll by.
And we’ll always hold thy banner
Upward to the sky.

Thompson! Thompson! Dear Old Thompson,
True to thee we’ll be.
We will always love and honor,
To eternity.

Principals

Notable alumni

References

  • Seales, Bobby Joe (n.d.) "Thompson High School" - accessed August 17, 2021
  • Edgemon, Erin (May 5, 2017) "Alabaster delays opening of new $88 million high school." The Birmingham News
  • Gatheny, Bob (December 28, 2017) "Look inside Alabaster's new $68 million Thompson High School." The Birmingham News

External links

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