The front of the school faces east and is the original portion of the structure completed in 1911.  It consists of three floors, with the first floor partially below ground level. The second floor is the school's main floor.  When you enter the building, there are stairs to go up to the main floor on the 2nd floor, or down a half flight to the 1st floor.  During the Hillsborough and Jefferson years, the first floor was often referred to as "the basement" and the second floor as "the first floor."

The ceiling at the front porch of the building

The floor at the front porch of the building.   It formerly had "H.H.S." but was changed to "J.H.S." after Jefferson High School was founded here in 1939.  The color shades of the brick red and pine green tiles were used in the building's interior.

Looking south from the elevator, this is the patio situated on the 2nd level between the old and new structures.  The 1911 portion is on the left, the 1923 portion in the background and on the right.  On the left is the door to the museum-media center.  The blue arrow below shows the vantage point of the photo at left. (Note: This floor plan is rotated from the normal view of north at the top to correspond with the photo at left.)

Originally, the patio was an open atrium at ground level with a fishpond where one could sit outdoors and eat lunch but when the restoration was done in 2003, the ground level was enclosed with a floor and ceiling and a floor was built on the roof of the space to create the 2nd floor patio.  The patio serves as a lunch spot for teachers and as an overflow when meetings or reunion parties are held in the museum. For the rededication ceremony, this area was set up with tables and chairs, flowers, cloths and a lovely array of finger foods - all catered by the Jefferson-Cypress culinary department. Their students were dressed in black pants and white shirts and did the serving. Close to 200 attended and almost the entire School Board.

The floors are original to the 1911 building, having been beautifully restored.  The interior colors are also true to the old high school color scheme.

Stairs from the 2nd floor down to the 1st floor front doors

The bronze plaque in the main hallway is a replica of the original which is displayed at the entrance to the Education building offices downtown. 
See the plaque larger

Rex Gordon on  well-trodden stairs. The windows are exact copies of the originals.

Looking west along the north hallway from the original 1911 building into the 1923 addition.  The lengthwise floor boards and the smooth wall beyond the brick wall mark the start of the addition.  On the left can be seen the entrance to the elevator vestibule.

The door to a long-inoperative dumbwaiter system in the south hallway.  Hallways in the building have names such as Black Hall, Gold Hall, Cheetah Hall, etc.

Access to possibly a coal chute, furnace-related equipment or plumbing.

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The Kay Moore Morse Auditorium
The seats are arranged in straight rows; the apparent curvature of this photo is due to wide angle lens distortion.
 

The auditorium has around 600 seats that were made in the style of the original seats which were not able to be restored at reasonable costs.  The only difference is that the current chairs are wider to accommodate today's generally larger students.

Kay Moore Morse, Class of 1943, who founded the Alumni Association, worked diligently to get the building on the National Register.  She started the "Save Our School Project" to rescue the building, the museum, and sales of bricks around the flagpole as a fundraiser.  The auditorium was named for her in honor of all her work and years of service to keeping this building in the system.

    Portrait by Philip Rosseter, Jr., JHS '46.

Behind the stage are dressing rooms and restrooms. Back in the 40's the boys and girls played their basketball games on the large stage and dances were held.  With only 3 feet beyond the court end lines, players would often run into the walls.

The auditorium seating originally featured balcony seating, but  unfortunately, the decision was made to convert the space into classrooms instead of restoring the balcony.
 

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The bookstore on the first floor of the D.W. Waters Career Ctr. was the original location of Ed's snack and school supplies counter during the Hillsborough years.  Read more about Ed and his store.
 

The handicapped entrance on the first floor.  The original terrazzo floors were restored and refinished to shine like glass.

A showcase on the first floor

A view through the window of a classroom on the second floor

A view through the window of the culinary arts department

The boys restroom

The boys restroom

The D. W. Waters Career Center provides quality performance based career preparation programs and training facilities for at-risk youth. They serve students who are not succeeding academically at one of the district’s comprehensive high schools, or who are over-aged middle school students. Students are given a second opportunity to graduate high school at an accelerated pace while getting started with training in a career of their choice. They combine academic and technical training that will assist students in entering college, an advanced technical training program, the workforce, or the military.

Visit the D. W. Waters Career Center website.