PJHS History through Photos

Pampa Junior High Schools

Pampa Junior High School has its own special history as told by this page. The original Pampa Junior High School was located in the original school building at 126 W. Francis St. that once housed the first Pampa High School starting in the school year 1920-1921. In 1940-1941 when the current Pampa High School located at 111 E. Harvester was built, the building official was designated as Pampa Junior High School. Enjoy this pictorial and descriptive history of what our many in our class knew as our school.

The history of the junior high in the Pampa Independent School District might seem complicated to those who weren’t around when all the events were unfolding. Many people are not aware that, at one point, Pampa actually had two junior high schools—Pampa Junior High and Robert E. Lee Junior High—with a big rivalry between the two.

In February of 1903 the Pampa School District became the sixth school district in Gray County. Mrs. Edith Townsend taught 10 pupils in a 16' by 20' wooden building built by the White Deer Land Company. The school was located in a pasture in the northeast part of town near the present-day site of the Fellowship Hall of Central Baptist Church at 513 E. Francis. All grades were housed in the same building.

The school age population of Pampa grew and on September 10, 1910 the new red brick building at 309 N. Cuyler opened. It housed six classrooms and an auditorium. Its official name was Lamar School, named for Mirabeau B. Lamar, the "Father of Education" in Texas. Most people, however, remember it as the Red Brick Building.

By 1920 the number of students had grown to the point where a larger building was required and construction began on the tan brick building at 126 W. Francis.

For several years classes were held in both the Red Brick Building (on the right in the picture below) and the Tan Brick Building (on the left in the picture below). Both the high school and the junior had met in the two buildings—known collectively as the Central Campus. An east and a west wing were added to the Tan Brick Building.

When Pampa High School moved to its new building on Harvester in the fall of 1941, the junior high continued to operate in the Tan Brick Building which then became known as Pampa Junior High. The school mascot was the Reapers, and the school colors were blue and white. The old Red Brick Building was torn down in 1959.

In 1958 the district opened a second junior high school at 2401 Charles. This junior high was called Robert E. Lee Junior High and was the home of the Rebels. Its school colors were red and gray. At that time both schools housed 7th, 8th, and 9th grade students. The Reaper-Rebel rivalry had begun!

 

In 1973 the School Board voted to close the Pampa Junior High downtown and combine the two junior highs into one school. The new school would be known as Pampa Junior High but would be located in the Lee Junior High building. The mascot was changed to the Patriots, and the school colors became red, white, and blue. It housed Eighth and Ninth grade students.

Sam Houston Elementary became a Seventh Grade school.

 

In 1978 the Sam Houston campus was closed, and Pampa Junior High was renamed Pampa Middle School with Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth grade students. The mascot and colors remained the same.

 

In 2004, still at the Charles Street campus, the school was once again renamed Pampa Junior High. The mascot and colors both changed. The mascot was the Green Team; colors were green and gold.

 

In 2008 Pampa Junior High moved into its current home at 4000 Bad Cattle Company Road. The school mascot returned to its roots and once again became the Reapers, proudly flying green and gold as its colors.

 

Pampa Junior High School History attributed to PISD Website at http://pampaisd.net