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Schools

Alumni to experience familiar flavor

Hillsborough High graduates are pleased that the school has returned to its originallook after a $16.8-million renovation.

By ELISABETH DYER
Published March 31, 2006

From her home, Margaret Graham Peeler has witnessed the transformation of nearby Hillsborough High School: 11-million bricks remortared, the clock tower repaired and bricked-over windows replaced with glass.

Last week, sod arrived to blanket the front lawn, most recently dotted with portables, just in time for a celebration Saturday. Peeler, 90, will join other alumni and community members as they check out the improvements.

She is happy that the school once again looks as it did when she walked the halls in 1929, studying Latin, French and chemistry, and assembled in the auditorium where sunlight streamed through windows. The school was beautiful back then, she said, but partially unfinished. Students did calisthenics in the shop areas, which had no equipment, and played games on unfinished fields with sand burs.

"There was no money,'' Peeler said. "Florida's boom had already burst by 1928, and they were not able to finish their plans."

The district's first high school, Hillsborough opened in 1885 in a livery stable on Franklin Street. Construction at its current location on Central Avenue started in 1927. In the 1970s, Hillsborough and other schools in the district received air conditioning. Ceilings were lowered, windows were bricked or covered with opaque glass, and wood and terrazzo floors were covered with tile and carpet.

The latest renovation has restored much of the historic flavor and streamlined operations. The school's cafeteria, known as the Doghouse Cafe, has five service lines and looks like a trendy diner.

"This is uptown," said Art Maynor, a 1946 graduate and president of the school's Alumni Association. Members pitched in to buy sturdy wood and metal auditorium chairs to replace the red and black plastic ones.

They will arrive Saturday to share memories of the school, considered an architectural gem and pride of Old Seminole Heights.

The $16.8-million renovation updated plumbing, electrical and security, and stained-glass windows, which students purchased in the 1960s.

Peeler, who taught reading and sponsored the yearbook from 1955 to 1967, remembers how the stained glass cut the glare in the auditorium.

"Other yearbook sponsors would say, 'Oh you're so lucky. You have such a scenic building. It's easy for you to get pretty pictures of the campus,' " Peeler said.

Elisabeth Dyer can be reached at edyer@sptimes.com or 813 226-3321.

[Last modified March 30, 2006, 14:23:32]