Soon after Millington was founded
in the 1870's, a reading school was established in a wood frame structure
on this site by the Shelby County Board of Education. The
building was surrounded by woods. Soon, enrollment grew until a second
room was added, also a second teacher. These two rooms were later enlarged
with four downstairs, and a concert hall upstairs. In
the 1890's the school was organized into grades. A
1907 brick structure was razed in 1916 and a brick
and terra cotta "Beaux-Arts" style edifice was erected
on the site and stood until 2005. The school had eleven grades. The
twelfth grade class was authorized in 1910 and
by 1911 two students received high school diplomas.
Some
other firsts for MCHS were ...
- The first brick school was
built in 1907.
- It was the first school in Shelby County to
have a gymnasium. The gymnasium was built in 1922
with funds raised by the citizens of Millington.
- It was the first school in this area to have
a transportation system and hot lunches.
- The first 16mm projector in
Shelby County Schools was used at Millington Central High School.
- In 1947, MCHS had the first lighted
football game in the county.
- MCHS was admitted to membership in the Southern
Association of colleges and secondary schools. It was the
first school in Memphis or Shelby County to be accredited and the
ninth school in the state of Tennessee to achieve this distinction.
- MCHS was the first high school in Shelby to
have a computer with internet access in every classroom.
The New Millington
Central High School building provides modern, code-compliant facilities
which will include: sixty teaching stations, special classrooms for
newspaper and yearbook, art, choral music, a computer lab, the main
office and guidance. Most of the Wilkinsville Road frontage will remain
a pastoral setting.
