Nestled in the heart of downtown, Las Vegas High School is the very first High School to be built in the city. The school opened its doors in 1930 and has educated local high school students for nearly a century. A new school campus was built in 1993 on the east end of Sahara Avenue to carry on the proud name and tradition of Las Vegas High School.
After 63 years of operation, the old downtown campus was renamed the Las Vegas Academy of the Arts. Recently the campus had the proud honor of being listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The listing recognizes the school's architectural significance and importance to the history of education in Las Vegas.
Many students who attended Las Vegas High School went on to become very prominent Nevadans, including Senator Richard Bryan.
"In our youth, it was the only high school in town, Bryan said. "This was really the center of our universe. There was no junior high or middle school. When you graduated from the 8th grade, it was a rite of passage. You would become a wildcat."
Bryan graduated from Las Vegas High School in 1955.
"It was just a marvelous experience," according to Bryan. "We had wonderful teachers, and it was a different time, but I loved it."
He fondly remembered the now renovated, sacred senior squares that once were painted at the bottom of the school's steps.
"The tradition started long before my time in the early 40s, and each art class would paint a square," Bryan explains as he points to his class of 1955 senior square. "For example, my class of 55 square is right here. We had a thespian theme, and you'll see the class of 56 had a 'rock around the clock' theme."
Over time the squares painted on the ground became faded and barely legible. So Las Vegas High alumni had the squares replicated and put in a mounted frame right in front of the school to preserve the rich tradition.
"Down here was Mr. Ruper, he was the boy's health teacher, and everybody called him Rupe," Bryan said as he entered the high school.
According to Bryan, it was a nickname his teacher didn't seem to like.
"He was livid; he couldn't control us."
Las Vegas High has made its mark in the history books, including the 1944 football team that went undefeated, earning a place in Ripley's Believe it or Not. Four members of the team, Myron Leavitt, Bill "Wildcat" Morris, John Mendoza and Tom Bell, went on to become prominent Las Vegas attorneys and judges.
"No team [that] scored against the wildcats team got a successive first down," Bryan said.
But it wasn't just sports that made Las Vegas High School stand out. A few years later, in 1947, the Las Vegas Rhythmettes dance troop was formed, and the group was so exceptional they appeared on national television.
"The Ed Sullivan Show was prime time television," says Bryan. "Every girl wanted to be a Rhythmette, and Mrs. Stucki was the director, and it was tough to get in."
In 1953 Rancho High School opened, and in 1957 the Sir Herkimer Bone Football Game began, a tradition that still lives on to this day. Each year the two rival schools played for the bone, a trophy made from an old soup bone and kept in the victorious school's trophy case between games. Bryan jokes that he wasn't coordinated enough to play football, but he could run fast, so he ran track.
"One year, I dropped the baton," says Bryan as he laughed. "I was able to pick it up, and we finished, but those are great memories."
Bryan recalled the Las Vegas High fight song as he chanted the lyrics while walking through Frazier Hall. Frazier Hall, built in 1949, is named after former principal and Las Vegas Union School District Superintendent Maude Frazier.
In 1956 UNLV had its first office in Frazier Hall, and college classes were held on the campus. Bryan served as Nevada's Attorney General before being elected Governor. He finished his political career as a United States Senator. But there is one race Bryan recalls that he did not win. It was at Las Vegas High School.
"Rosenbob was in the band, and he did an effective campaign, and I lost."
Senator Bryan may have lost that Student Body election, but he said he's still proud of his speech to the student body that year. Bryan volunteered to touch electric eels that were brought into the assembly.
"I'll do it! I touch them," he joked. His opening line for his speech: "I hope in the few minutes I have I can electrify you with my few words, as I just was by the eels."
The old Las Vegas High building, now known as the Las Vegas Academy of the Arts, occupies more than 25 acres in downtown Las Vegas. The school gym remains almost exactly as it was when it was built.
The main academic building and the gymnasium were first listed on the National Register of Historic places in 1986. In 2021, Frazier Hall was added to the listing. And now, the entire campus is included in the listing.
The designation recognized the school's place in Nevada history and helped preserve its unique past. It's a unique past close to Senator Bryan's heart. He's even talked about his desire for his funeral to be held on the campus.
"I think it would be great if I could get my memorial in the old Las Vegas High School gym."