Sumner High School (Kansas City, Kan.)

Sumner High School (SHS) began in 1905, following passage of Kansas House Bill No. 890, which allowed for the segregation of Kansas high schools. SHS classes met afternoons in the old Kansas City, Kansas High School building. The first SHS class graduated in 1906. That fall, SHS began a 34-year tenure in a new building at Ninth Street and Washington Boulevard. Beginning in 1923, SHS became a senior high school (grades 10-12). Due to a great increase in enrollment, in 1932 the Kansas City, Kansas Board of Education purchased a site at Eighth and Oakland Avenue for a new facility and stadium. A new athletic field was dedicated that same year. The new SHS building was dedicated January 9, 1940. SHS faculty taught both college preparatory and vocational courses, and the school gained a reputation for academic excellence. For many years Kansas' only African American high school, the school integrated in 1978. At that time the name changed to Sumner Academy of Arts and Sciences, becoming a school for gifted students.