Beverly Hills Junior High School

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When it was built in 1953, Beverly Hills Junior High was the largest single addition
to the county school system since Huntington East was built in 1939.

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HUNTINGTON — In 1951, the Cabell County Board of Education revealed plans for
Beverly Hills Junior High School, a new, modern school to be built on a
25-acre site near the intersection of Washington Boulevard
and Saltwell Road at U.S. 60.

The architectural firm of Frampton & Bowers designed the new junior high,
 described as the largest single addition to the county school
system since Huntington East High was built in 1939.

The school board set aside $450,000 to build the new school, but when
 construction bids on the project were opened in 1953 the low
 bids for the work totaled more than $700,000.

To bring down the costs, the school's auditorium and gymnasium were temporarily
eliminated with a plan to add them at a future date, which was done. In 1963,
a six-classroom addition was built at the school and another identical
six-room addition was added in 1969. School Superintendent
 Olin C. Nutter noted that the additions brought the total cost
of the school to more than $1 million.

Like the county's other junior highs, Beverly Hills ultimately was designated a
"middle school." It was closed it 2013 when students from it and
Enslow Middle Schools were consolidated at the
new Huntington East Middle School.

However, Beverly Hills was given a new lease on life when it was extensively
 remodeled to house the county's new Explorer Academy, a dramatically
 different kind of school that opened in 2016. The new school
was the first in West Virginia to implement
 Expeditionary Learning education model.

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Note:  This Article and picture appeared in the Herald-Dispatch Newspaper on May 28, 2018.

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