Ida B. Wells-Barnett High School


Ida B. Wells-Barnett High School is a public high school in Portland, Oregon, United States. The school is located in the center Hillsdale neighborhood next to Rieke Elementary. The boundary includes most of Southwest Portland.
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History

Wells High School was built in 1956, after a ballot measure was passed in 1945 providing $5 million to improve Portland's school system. Population was growing explosively, so emphasis was put on economy and ease of building, instead of on architectural style as was the norm in the earlier school buildings. Wilson High School, which was designed by the firm Edmundson and Kochendoerfer, used the technique of lift-slab construction to speed up construction. Wilson was the first building in the Northwest to use that technique.
In July 2020, Portland Public Schools pledged to rename Wilson High School in response to pressure from the community in light of the racial justice movement that followed the murder of George Floyd, due to the pro-segregration policies and pro-Ku Klux Klan sympathies of President Woodrow Wilson for whom the school was named. In January 2021, the name was changed to Ida B. Wells-Barnett High School, in honor of Ida B. Wells. The mascot was also changed from the Trojans to the Guardians.

Notable alumni