William Chrisman High School


William Chrisman High School is a high school located in Independence, Missouri, United States, as part of the Independence School District.
WWW sites.isdschools.org/will...

History

The school was founded in 1888 and was known as Independence High School. The first building was located at the intersection of Pleasant and Truman Road, the current location of the Palmer/Central Office Building. It is from this location that President Harry S. Truman, First Lady Bess Truman, and Truman White House Press Secretary and Pulitzer Prize winner Charles Griffith Ross graduated in 1901.
In 1917 the Independence School District passed a levy and bond to build a new high school building. Margaret Chrisman Swope offered to sell the district land for the new school at the southeast corner of Union and Maple for $1 in exchange for naming the school after her father, William Chrisman. Chrisman had served as a member of the first school board in 1866 and was also a prominent lawyer and banker in the community. The new building opened in 1918 as William Chrisman High School. The high school moved to its current site in 1956, at the northeast corner of Noland Road and U.S. Route 24, when a major addition was added to Ott Elementary School and the building was converted into the high school. Since that time the building has undergone numerous additions.

Demographics

William Chrisman is home to 1,441 students from Independence, Missouri, and part of Sugar Creek, Missouri,. The student population's racial breakdown is: 62.9% white, 17.8% Hispanic, 12.8% Black, 2.2% Asian and Pacific Islander, and 0.8% Native American, with 3.5% of students identifying as two or more races.

Extracurricular

Sports and activities

William Chrisman is a member of the Greater Kansas City Suburban Conference: White Division. These divisions are realigned every two years. As of 2025, members of the White Division are as follows: Belton, Fort Osage, Grain Valley, Platte County, Raytown, Ruskin, Truman, and William Chrisman; Ruskin will depart this division in 2026.
William Chrisman also plays its local rivals, Truman, and Van Horn, which are also part of the Independence School District.
The William Chrisman Bears compete in the following sports:
  • Fall
  • *Boys: cross country, football, soccer, swimming
  • *Girls: volleyball, cross country, golf, softball, tennis, dance, cheer
  • Winter
  • *Boys: basketball, wrestling
  • *Girls: basketball, swimming, dance, cheer
  • Spring
  • *Boys: baseball, golf, tennis, track & field
  • *Girls: soccer, track & field

Robotics

The school district's FIRST Robotics Competition team, Team 1723 the FBI, was founded in 2006. The student members from all three ISD high schools meet almost all year round at William Chrisman High school. The FBI is also active in the ISD community; many members from the team mentor ISD middle school and elementary school FIRST Lego League teams and host an annual FIRST Lego League tournament at George Caleb Bingham Middle School.

Notable alumni