Building History

1858 Fourteen students enrolled at Allentown High School. Classes met with Prof. R.W. McAlpine at South Penn Street, near the present Allentown School District Administration Building. As enrollment increased, classes met in several different buildings. Prof. McAlpine was succeeded by Prof. Armagnac, Rev. Tobias Kessler, and Dr. R.K. Buehrle, who became the first Superintendent of Schools in 1867.
1869 First Commencement ceremony graduated three students at First Presbyterian Church, N. 5th St., June 30.
1880 Francis Dimmick Raub was principal until 1893, when he took the position of Superintendent.
1894 Allentown erected a new building for high school classes (now Central Elementary) at Lumber and Turner Streets. The "Canary and Blue" was founded by Mr. J. Warren Fritsch ('03), who remained a teacher at Allen until his retirement in 1954.
1916 Principal Daniel Hamm opened the doors of the present building on Seventeenth Street. Construction and furnishings: $585,034.32. He served as principal until 1943.
1925 Ninth grade students, until then attending Allen, begin attending the new Francis D. Raub school.
1927 Allentown adopts a 6 - 3 - 3 (elementary, junior high, senior high) grade system.
1929 Jack Coffield Stadium dedicated at Eighteenth and Turner Streets.
1930 Newly constructed Annex and Little Palestra opened. "Blue Gates" were hung.
1946 Mr. Clifford S. Bartholomew succeeds Dr. James W. Richardson as principal.
1957 Linden Street Wing opened, housing vocational shops and music facilities.
1960 In recognition of the District’s second, newly-built Louis E. Dieruff High School, Allentown High School changed its name to William Allen High School. 
1969 Mr. Samuel A. Miller takes position as principal.
1971 Allen vocational students began attending the new Lehigh County Area Vocational Technical School in Schnecksville, PA. On July 1, Dr. John F. McHugh succeeds Mr. Miller, who becomes Director of Secondary Education.
1973 J. Milo Sewards Gymnasium and David R. Hacket Natatorium opened on the site of former Coffield Stadium. Art Center opens in Linden Wing.
1975 Library-Science Center opened on the site of former Little Palestra. Cafeteria Annex and Student Center open, replacing the former girls' physical education area.
1981 Main, Annex, and St. Cloud buildings received extensive renovation: additional administrative offices, new suites for guidance and heath, modern facilities for home economics and biology, and new lockers and windows. The District switched to a 5 - 3 - 4 (elementary, middle, high) grade system. Ninth graders from Raub, South Mountain, and Trexler middle schools attend William Allen.
1982 Mr. Ray Erb succeeds Dr. McHugh as principal. Allentown District stadium redesignated to honor legendary coach, J. Birney Crum.
1988 Allen's gymnasium in the Physical Education Center renamed J. Milo Sewards Gymnasium, in honor of the social studies teacher, coach, and athletic director who served from 1942 to 1982.
1991 Mr. Louis P. DeLorenzo succeeds Dr. Erb as principal. Black Box Theatre and Dance Studio opened in basement of Annex, Library renovated, and several classrooms converted to computer laboratories with high-speed internet access.
1999 Mr. Keith R. Falko succeeds Mr. DeLorenzo as principal. William Allen Construction Company, students in partnership with local business, continues to renovate our facilities. Multiple refurbishment projects completed.
2001 Rising enrollment requires the division of several larger classrooms into smaller spaces.
2004 Annex receives external masonry conservation and repair.
2007 St. Cloud Building demolition planned for fall term (07-08 year) and construction of new Grade 9 Facility. Temporary relocation of affected classrooms to former Allentown Business School location