• The History of Normal Community High School

    Normal Community High School was originally founded in 1905.
    The original NCHS was built in 1927. 
    It had 14 classrooms, a gymnasium, library, and administrative offices.               Average enrollment was 350. 
    NCHS

    In 1954, NCHS had grown to the point where additional classrooms and facilities were needed.  This need resulted in two additions, one at the north end housing a cafeteria and music and speech classrooms, and one at the south end housing a new gymnasium (Arends), physics lab, agriculture lab, metals lab, woodworking lab and electronics lab.
     
    Again, in 1967, the growth of the community and increased enrollment resulted in a new addition to the NCHS building.  This included another new gymnasium (Neuman), a new cafeteria, a new library, new biology and chemistry labs, an automotive lab, new classrooms and office space for the Unit 5 Superintendent.   Average student enrollment after this last addition was over 1350 students, peaking at 1956 in 1974, immediately before the opening of Parkside Junior High School and the movement of 9th grade students to Chiddix and Parkside. 
      
    On March 21st, 2000, the Unit 5 Referendum was passed.  This referendum approved a spending budget of over 73 million dollars, of which the State of Illinois will fund nearly 18 million dollars, for new construction and renovation of Unit 5 facilities.  This will have quite an impact on NCHS.
    A brand new campus opened for NCHS on an entirely new site on Raab Road northeast of Normal in August 2003.  The new school include state-of-the-art, modern facilities for all academic and co-curricular programs.   It even includes a  swimming pool.

    A portion of the previous NCHS building will be remodeled and become a new junior high school (Kingsley Junior High school) for Unit 5.  The original 1927 construction will be torn down and the 1954 and 1967 sections completely updated.  
     
    Normal Community High School - The Present 
    In fall 2003 NCHS officially opened at its new location on Raab Road.  This marked the beginning of the first school year at Normal Community's new location.