Brief History of Burbank High School

A brief history of Burbank High was compiled for the 70th Anniversary celebration in 1978.  Read the brief excerpt below from the 70th Memory book, and check back as we research and write more of the history.

Prior to 1908, Burbank has no provisions for giving instruction at the high school level. Students who wanted to go to high school attended the Glendale Union High School District. In 1908 Burbank withdrew from the Glendale District and started a high school district of its own. As a result of a bond issue in 1908 construction was started on a new high school building. It was located on San Fernando Boulevard facing the boulevard between Cypress and Grinnell Streets. This was a two-story frame structure. While the new school was being constructed, an unoccupied part of the old grammar school, three classrooms, was used for the first high school classes in Burbank,starting September 14, 1908. They had 42 students in the first high school with courses in English, Latin, Algebra, Plane Geometry and Chemistry. School opened in the new Union High School building at Cypress and San Fernando in September 1910. The First graduating class consisted of three students. Mr. Will Hoist was the first Student Body President and originated the name Ceralbus, which has been used for the of the BHS annual ever since. The Union High School building was used for the high school until 1922 when all the high school students were moved to the new BHS at Third and Fairmount, which had been built in 1921-22. The new building was first occupied in September 1922. The student body of the new school totaled about 300 with the teaching staff of 20.