WELCOME TO WEARE HIGH SCHOOL REUNION!

History of Weare High School 1919 - 1987 The town discussed the possibility of having a high school in Weare for nearly forty years before one was established. The first attempt happened in 1873 when the town rejected building a high school in town. Among the reasons given were the following: the town was too poor; there was no central village and homes were too far apart; no school building was available; and a small school was considered a "poor school." In 1914, superintendent of schools Fred S. Libby began recommending a high school in Weare, but the town was not persuaded until 1919, and only then by a "bare majority." They decided on a location for a practical arts high school: Weare Center, the most central village in town, which already had a two-story, forty by sixty-foot New England church building (Weare Town Hall) that had been erected in 1837. The main floor was still used as a town hall, but the upper story, once used by the Universalist church, had been vacated. For less than a thousand dollars, the upper story was remodeled in time for the opening of Weare's first high school on September 15, 1919. Twenty students attended. There were four rooms: a large main room and three smaller rooms that served as a kitchen for domestic arts, a serving room, and a classroom. Some of the same movable desks used in this first high school to replace church pews were still in use in 1958. The horse shed at the location, which later housed a hearse, served as a farm shop. Fourteen students graduated in June 1923. When there were too many students for the space, the town decided to construct a new high school. The cost appropriated for the building (now housing the town offices on Memorial Drive) was $25,000. The first floor was comprised of a large main room and a Home Economics room with an adjacent classroom. The second floor had four classrooms and the principal's office. A small gym was constructed in the basement, and a shop for agricultural pursuits was built nearby. The Weare High School Class of 1926 was the first class to graduate from this location. Grades seven through twelve occupied the building for almost five decades when it also became too small. At a school meeting on March 6, 1974, a vote on article 4 approved the building of a new high school on East Road next to the white elementary school building. The one-story brick building offered more room for a growing student population and spaces for a front office, guidance counselor, and library. After sixty-eight years of Weare High School, the last class graduated in June 1987. That fall Weare students joined Henniker's at the new John Stark Regional High School on Route 114 in North Weare.