Farmington High School - 1928 Building

As the Farmington Town Council begins to study potential uses for the iconic 1928 building it's a good time to look back to 1928, the year the high school opened with much excitement and promise. 
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​The building formally opened on June 7, 1928, in time for graduation ceremonies for the class of 1928 to be held in the new building.  Students didn't begin attending school in the new building until September of 1928.  

A Modern Building with Innovative Educational Features

The impressive new high school, a Georgian structure of red brick trimmed in white, was designed by Towner-Selley Associates. Salvatore Mazzotta of Middletown was the General Contractor. He and his worker are pictured here as they were nearing completion of the building.  When it opened, it was the largest public work the town had undertaken. It cost $225,000 to build which would be just over $4 million today. 

According an article that appeared in the Hartford Times shortly after the building opened, the high school was built to accommodate 410 students "with ease".  It contained 23 classrooms with room for 15 more.  The ground floor contained a number of "modern" features - a domestic science room beautifully outfitted with green cabinets, electric stoves, and electric refrigerators, and adjoining this a cafeteria with enough tables to seat 150 people at a time where meals would be served to students. At the eastern end of the floor there was a manual training department as well as boys and girls locker rooms complete with showers. The new high school also contained a large auditorium, able to seat 600 with a moveable stage so the room could be converted to a gymnasium. The stage was complete with a brown velvet curtain emblazoned with FHS in gold.  On the third floor there was a combined library and study hall and a science department with labs for experimental purposes. 

The new school had "modern" educational features too. It was a six year school offering courses for students preparing for college,  for a technical school or to teach. In addition, there was a general course, a commercial course and vocational courses.

 "The citizens of Farmington are very proud of their high school building , which it is felt will offer opportunities unexcelled in public schools in the state."


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