- Mortimer Jordan High School
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Mortimer Jordan High School is a public high school located in Kimberly, Alabama. It is a part of the Jefferson County Board of Education.
The school was named after Captain Mortimer Harvie Jordan, a war hero who lost his life in World War I. He was a soldier, officer and physician. As commanding officer of Company K, 167th infantry, 42nd "Rainbow Division" Alabama Army National Guard, he was mortally wounded while leading his sector in battle. He died of his wounds in 1918 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.[1]
Contents
Foundation
Mortimer Jordan High School opened its doors in the fall of 1920 at its original campus in Morris, Alabama with a mere ninety students enrolled. Two students, Ms. Sudie Counts Rogers and Ms. Eileen Jenkins Lovelady, graduated that year. The first principal, Ms. Minnie Holliman, and three female teachers completed the faculty. In 1928, a student, Ms. Mabel Creel graduated valedictorian at the age of 13. She was the youngest to graduate with such high honors.
Improvements
The original facility was located in Morris, with the property directly adjacent to the city limits of Kimberly. This site was occupied until the end of the 2010-11 school year.
The original building of five rooms soon became inadequate and a frame building of eight rooms was added. The first water system for the school was installed during the early 1930s. Alabama By-Product Corporation in Majestic donated the pump and water filter to the school using Turkey Creek as the water source. A teacher and some students installed the system, and water fountains were placed outside the building. Between the years of 1937 and 1941 indoor plumbing and restrooms were installed.
The "old gym" was built by the WPA during 1936 and 1937, around the same time the lunchroom program was established. The first Miss Mortimer Jordan, now Miss Torch, was elected in 1937. Stage curtains were purchased for the gym stage with the proceeds from the pageant.
During the early 1950s, a then up-to-date football and athletic field was constructed. Restrooms in the football stadium were added in 1962.
In its last incarnation at the Morris site, the school consisted of a multi-complex that included two gymnasiums, academic classrooms, and a lunchroom. A music department (band and choir), homemaking department, business education department, and student counseling service were added.
A brand new Mortimer Jordan High School was built on Bone Dry Road, approximately four miles from the old site. It opened in the fall of 2011. The new site, one of a series of new high schools built during the period by the Jefferson County Schools, consists of classroom buildings, an athletics field house, and fields for football, baseball and softball. A competition and a practice gymnasium, as well as greatly enlarged practice facilities for wrestling, are also included.
The original site in Morris is in the midst of conversion into the William E. Burkett Center for handicapped students, which will move from its original location near Fultondale to start the 2012-13 school year.
Sport
The athletic department fields teams in football, volleyball, cross country, basketball, wrestling, baseball, softball, golf, and track and field. The softball team won the Alabama High School Athletic Association Class 5A State Championship in 2008 and 2009, setting a state record in 2009 for most consecutive games won. That streak carried over into the 2010 season, and ended at 59 games when Jordan lost to Angelo Rodriguez High School of Fairfield, California in the ESPN RISE/Nike Fastest to First Tournament in Huntington Beach, California on March 25, 2010. (The team later finished second in the 2010 5A championship, upset by Athens High twice on the final day.) Jordan also won the 2011 championship, only the fourth team in state history to win a title after losing their opening game in the double-elimination tournament.
Since its establishment, Mortimer Jordan High School has had only twelve principals. Former principal Jimmie A. Trotter served over 36 years as a coach and as its principal. The current principal is Barbara Snider.
Mortimer Jordan High School is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and the Alabama Department of Education.
References
External links
Mortimer Jordan High School Website Coordinates: 33°45′29″N 86°48′41″W / 33.75817°N 86.81126°W
Categories:- Educational institutions established in 1920
- High schools in Alabama
- Schools in Jefferson County, Alabama
- School buildings completed in 2011
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