History of Rhodes

The opening of James Ford Rhodes six-year high school at the beginning of the school term, February, 1932 marked a big step in South Brooklyn’s progress.  The first senior high school built in South Brooklyn was a modern adaptation of Italian Renaissance architecture.  The site for the new school was originally purchased on September 16th, 1920, with an additional purchase to the site made on November 25, 1935.  Both purchases were made from the Lutheran Cemetery.  The total cost of the purchases and construction of the school was $79,640.00.  After much consideration, it was recommended by the Cleveland Board of Education on June 23, 1930, that the school would be named James Ford Rhodes High School in honor of the Cleveland industrialist and historian.  Rhodes High is located approximately seven miles southwest of downtown Cleveland in the area known as Old South Brooklyn.

 The football and athletic field, with a cylinder running track surrounding it was dedicated in September, 1933.  The first football game held at the new Rhodes Field was played on September 23, 1933, with an audience of 4,000 spectators.  The Rhodes Rams (so named after the nationally famous Cleveland Rams football team) were playing against the Lincoln High Presidents.  Unfortunately, Rhodes lost by a score of 7 to 3.

One of the most gratifying projects at Rhodes was the underground track.  In 1936, this area was filled with dirt with only a crawl space between the ceiling and the ground.  In 1936, 1937, and 1938, the track team and other volunteers, many of them paid thirty cents an hour by the Youth Administration of the Federal Government, started to dig the dirt out of the basement.  E.J. Holden, the track coach, spent many Saturdays working to build this track.  Another person who supported this project and saw it through to completion was the assistant principal, Mr. William Bryan.  Mr. Bryan had boys take two wheelbarrows of dirt out for every detention they received.  In 1938, the Works Progress Administration of the “New Deal” came in and did the cement work.  The track was opened for the first underground track meet in 1939.

Another addition to the original building was made in 1947, when the Girls’ Gym was constructed.  It was opened on January 5, 1948, for the girls’ physical education classes.

In 1964, the ninth grade was moved to Charles A. Mooney Junior High, and Rhodes became a three year high school.  Between 1965 and 1967, the school was remodeled.  This remodeling was seen in the various offices and the exterior entrances, as well as in the classrooms.  The remodeling included the installation of three boilers, a meter house, an incinerator, lockers, office counters and files, blackboards and tackboards, steel shelving, modernized lighting and electrical work.

With enrollment increasing in the sixties, a new gymnasium was constructed in 1971, at the west end of the building.  The gymnasium addition included a faculty parking lot underneath.  The old gymnasium became three classrooms: an auto shop, electricity shop, and a business machines laboratory.

In February, 1973, the new Media Center was completed and dedicated to J.J. Stillinger, a former principal.  The old library was made into two classrooms and an office complex.  In 1975 cement bleachers and locker rooms were added to the south side of Rhodes Field and two tennis courts were installed.