Where were you in '53? The La Habra Story

Once upon a time, a child growing up in La Habra dreamed of someday going to high school at…Fullerton.

All that changed in 1953, when construction began on La Habra High School, a new campus that would serve the prospering area.

The groundbreaking ceremony took place out on Whittier Blvd on January 10, 1953 near where the current track is located, just across from Burger Q (now the Green Burrito).

The initial cost of building: $1.5 million.

La Habra High School was dedicated on September 12, 1954. Music was provided by Lowell Elementary and Washington Junior High School bands. The La Habra American Legion post donated the first American flag to fly over the school, and the Native Sons of the Golden West donated the California state flag.

There was room for 2000 students. There were 19 classrooms, two homemaking labs, two science labs, five industrial arts shops, an art studio, a library-study, band and music classrooms, a pool, a snack center, PE locker rooms and showers, a transformer unit building and administrative offices. All in all, the campus covered 40 acres.

On the first day of classes, principal Walter Pray (pictured on left) welcomed 425 freshman and sophomores were in attendance—the classes of 1957 and 1958.

The students voted to become known as the Highlanders, which beat the Crusaders by a 3-to-1 margin. Dr. Pray was happy with the choice. Not only did the name describe the local topography but it was uncommon as well. Where other schools may have been names after various and sundry animals or mythological figures, the Highlanders celebrated a strong historical and cultural tradition of diversity, ingenuity, fighting spirit and love of freedom.

And then there were those bagpipes…