# Webster Groves High School

Webster Groves High School is a public secondary school in Webster Groves, Missouri, United States. It is located at 100 Selma Ave, Webster Groves, MO. The school is part of the Webster Groves School District and its current principal is Matt Irvin.

## History

Webster Groves High School was established in 1889 as a ninth grade course. The school originally occupied the first floor of the white frame Bristol School building, then known as Webster School, or sometimes the Gray Avenue School; the elementary school took up the second floor. George L. Hawkins was the principal. As enrollment increased, the high school used hallways and storerooms as supplementary classrooms. Eventually, they rented space in the Congregational Church and the Brannon Building. In 1905, the entire high school was moved to the second floor of the Brannon Building.
In 1905, citizens recognized the need for a new high school, so they voted for a $40,000 bond issue to purchase the site at 100 Selma Avenue, and build the school. The building faced Selma Avenue but was closer to Bradford Avenue. It was far back from the street, and was very long and thin, likely built similar to the Bristol Elementary School building. The high school building was completed in 1907, while businessman Robert A. Holekamp briefly served as district superintendent. That same year, science classes in physics and astronomy were offered, becoming the first elective courses. At first the high school was a two-story brick building with three classrooms and an auditorium. In 1914, two wings were added to the school, a south wing for a gymnasium, and a north wing for an auditorium, 12 classrooms, and a "girls gym". In 1917 an armory for the Home Guard was created behind the school, which was eventually given to the high school. It was used as a lunchroom and a gymnasium for seniors. James Hixson served as the first principal from 1907 to 1943.
In the 1920s, a three-story section and the city's public library were added just north of this building. In 1925, a bond issue provided funding to completely redo the school. A new section was built meant specifically for seniors, children from 9-12th grade. This section was completed on October 6, 1927 and was named Frank Hamsher High School, after the school district's 4th superintendent, who had died in 1924. This new addition contained a double level auditorium, gymnasium, and 9 classrooms. It is referred to as the senior entrance. The second part of the plan involved building another new part of the school just to the south of the new section, called the junior entrance. The original building was used for juniors, children 6-8th grade from 1927 until 1935, when it was either torn down in 1935 or left behind the 1935 section. This new addition contained 28 classrooms for classes like drama and science, FACS rooms, art rooms. It also added the Little Theater, which was modeled after the Yale Repertory Theater of the time, and had drama and music rooms above it.
Some time in the 1940s or 1950s, an autobody shop was built in the northeast corner of the high school property to serve auto maintenance classes. It was constructed as a separate building that could house small cars or large semi trucks. In the mid 1970's an indoor walkway was constructed between the main building and this sub-building.
In 1947, the armory building behind the school was replaced by Roberts Gym, named after Charles A. Roberts, who coached and taught at the school for 39 years. The main entrance of this building was on the ground floor facing Bradford Avenue and led into the cafeteria.
Howard Latta was principal from 1943 to 1968. WGHS was racially integrated in 1956, 2 years after Brown v Board of Education, bringing in children from Douglass High School. In 1966 a 2-story elevated wing was added onto the back of the building, containing many classrooms for math and world languages. It enclosed a large section of the courtyard, but still let students travel underneath it. The Herbert Schooling Library was donated around this time. Jerry Knight was principal from 1969 to 1986. The main auditorium within the Senior entrance is named after him.
The main common area, used largely for lunch, was built under the 2 story section in 2002. It was named P.V. Commons is named after Patricia Voss, the principal from 1994–2003. She had been an assistant principal since 1977. In October 2002, a white powdery substance found in a tissue box provoked a two-hour lockdown. Investigators later determined the substance was not anthrax. The Webster Groves School Board appointed Jon Clark as principal in 2003. Clark had been an assistant principal at the high school for seven years.
In 2010, an old section of the school building was torn down (possibly the original high school building) to build an auxiliary gym between Robert's Gym and Junior Entrance.
In 2011, construction began on a 106,000-square-foot addition to the school. At this time, the old auto maintenance shop and a small original north wing was torn down to make room for it. A temporary auto maintenance shop was set up under the 1966 section of building, where the plywood walls still stand, as of 2025. The major new addition was completed in 2012. It included new classrooms, state-of-the-art science labs, a main band room, private band practice rooms, art studios, industrial technology classrooms, and an autobody shop in the basement. The social studies department also had new rooms constructed in this section, as well as some utility rooms and a loading dock. To get to the car shop basement, a car elevator was constructed to bring cars down into the cavernous auto maintenance shop. The roof of the building features a vegetation courtyard. In addition, three 20,000 gallon water harvesting tanks are located at the base of the building for rain collection and irrigation for the field behind the building. The expansion was built to resemble the look of the existing building, including the use of terrazzo floors and steps, and limestone accents. The old gymnasium behind Knight Auditorium was sectioned off during this process and since contains the drama department rooms, as well as a black box theater.
For several years, the Little Theater had been dealing with black mold, and nobody was allowed inside. In 2024, the building was demolished and replaced with Frick Theater. It was built for $2 million, funded by Mr. and Ms. Frick, and was designed to be a clean theater, meaning nothing will be painted or drilled into the floors for performances, unlike the Knight Auditorium.

## Facilities

The Webster Groves High School building has approximately 130 classrooms along with an auditorium, a media center, and a theater. It has a soccer field to the west and a baseball/softball field to the east. Moss Field, the football stadium, is located at Hixson Middle School at 630 South Elm Avenue, a short drive from the high school. The field was built in 1946 and has been renovated several times. It now has locker rooms, bleachers, lights and an all-weather track. As of 2025, it has undergone a full transformation, including an eight lane track, turf field, concession stands, locker rooms and restrooms, concrete seating, and a video scoreboard.

## Curriculum

24 credits are required to graduate from Webster Groves High School.
The 2024-25 school year required students to have 4 credits of English, 3 of Math, Science, and Social Studies, 1 of Fine Arts (such as Art, Drama, or Music), 1 of Practical Arts (such as Business, Family and Consumer Sciences, or Industrial Technology), 1 of Physical Education, 0.5 of health, and 1 Personal Finance course, combined with 7.5 elective credits.

## Activities and clubs

Webster Groves High School offers over 60 clubs for its students to participate in, covering a wide range of student interests. Students may organize their own clubs as long as they are accompanied by a faculty sponsor and chartered by the student council.
* Anime Club
* APIDA Club
* Art Club
* Athletic Training Club
* Band
* Best Buddies
* Beyond Webster
* Branch Creative Writing Club
* Brass Choir
* Breakfast Book Club
* Chess Club
* Choir
* Class Councils
* Cycling Club
* DECA
* Dungeons & Dragons Club
* Echo Newspaper
* Economics Club
* Environmental Club
* FCCLA
* Feminist Coalition
* Fishing Club
* French National Honor Society (FBLA)
* Future Medical Professionals
* Gardening Club
* German Exchange Club (GAPP)
* German National Honor Society (GNHS)
* Gender-Sexuality Alliance (GSA)
* History in Action Club
* Interact Club
* Jazz Band
* Junior Classical League / Latin Club
* National Art Honor Society (NAHS)
* National Honor Society (NHS)
* National Technical Honor Society (NTHS)
* PACERS / Future Leaders
* Pep Club
* Reel Film Club
* Robotics Team
* Rock climbing Club
* S.T.A.R.T.
* Scholar Bowl Teams
* Ski Club
* Spanish Club
* Spanish National Honor Society (SNHS)
* Statesmen Symphony
* Student Council
* Tea Club
* Theater
* Tri-M Music National Honor Society
* Ultimate Frisbee Team
* Webster Tackles Cancer
* WGHS A Cappella
* WGHS E-sports Team
* Women in STEM Club
* Woodwind Choir
* Yearbook Club
Defunct clubs:
* Don Knotts Club
* Lumberjack Club

## Sports

Webster Groves High School sponsors a number of different sports, including football (men's), field hockey, soccer (men's and women's), basketball (men's and women's), baseball (men's), softball (women's), golf (men's and women's), track and field (men's and women's), swimming (men's and women's), and lacrosse (women's). Ice hockey and men's lacrosse are non-affiliate sports at the high school.
The Turkey Day football game is an annual game held on Thanksgiving Day between Webster Groves High School and its longtime rival, Kirkwood High School. The rivalry between the two schools is the oldest current Thanksgiving Day rivalry west of the Mississippi River. The location of the game alternates each year between Webster’s Moss Field and Kirkwood’s Lyon’s Memorial field. A number of festivities surround the game, including a shared dance and a separate bonfire and pep rally at each school. It began in 1907 and is the longest running classic west of the Mississippi. The winner of each year's game is presented with the Frisco Bell, a bell from a train donated by the Frisco Railroad line. The losers used to get the Little Brown Jug, however it has not been seen in a while. 2007 was the 100th year of this storied series between the two schools, and the game had attendance exceeding 12,000 fans.

### State championship wins

* 1931: Boys Track
* 1947: Boys Golf
* 1951: Boys Golf
* 1954: Boys Golf
* 1954: Football
* 1967: Boys Swimming
* 1968: Boys Swimming
* 1970: Boys Swimming
* 1979: Football
* 1983: Girls Golf
* 1984: Girls Golf
* 1988: Football
* 1996: Boys Basketball
* 2002: Football
* 2008: Boys Basketball; Ranked 18th in the Nation
* 2009: Football; Ranked 7th in the Midwest/Midlands Region
* 2014: Boys Soccer; first ever in school history
* 2015: Boys Soccer; first public school to win twice in a row
* 2017: Boys Basketball
* 2017: Girls Soccer; first ever in school history
* 2018: Boys Basketball
* 2020: Softball
* 2022: Boys Basketball
* 2022: Boys Golf
* 2022: Boys Soccer

## Fight song

Webster Groves High School's current fight song is "On With Webster", which has the same melody and similar lyrics as that of the University of Wisconsin. The song's first verse is most often performed instrumentally by the school band at assemblies and sporting events.
* "On With Webster"
* On with Webster, On with Webster,
* Fight, fight, fight, fight, fight!
* Pass the ball on down the field
* And fight with all your might!
* On with Webster, On with Webster,
* Fight on for your fame,
* Fight, Statesmen, fight
* And you will win the game!
The school officially still has an alma mater, though it has fallen out of disuse since the 1910s and is almost completely unknown to students today. It praises the school's intellect, safety, and home town from the perspective of an alumnus reminiscing about their time in school.

## Media references

In 1966, CBS produced an award winning documentary called 16 In Webster Groves, which was about the lives of students in Webster Groves. In 1996, then-President Bill Clinton came to the school to recognize the Webster Groves School District’s work towards preventing drugs and violence among its students.
In 1999, Time magazine devoted a cover story to a week at Webster Groves High School. The magazine stated that "TIME chose Webster Groves, a suburb of St. Louis, MO, in part because it has not been benighted by violence."

## Faculty

* Average professional experience: 15.3 years.
* Percentage of teachers with advanced degrees: 79.4%.

## School information

* Grades: 9-12
* Enrollment: 1,378
* Senior class of 2024: 340
* Student/teacher Ratio: 19:1
* Rate of Attendance: 93.6%
* Graduation Rate: 97.9%
* 2022 Composite ACT Score: 23.1
* 2024 National Merit Semifinalist Students: 2
* 2024 National Merit Commended Students: 6
* 2025 Missouri Scholars 100 Nominees: 2
* Courses offering College Credit: 23
Webster Groves High School is a closed campus for grades 9-10. Juniors and seniors are given the privilege to leave campus during their lunch hour, with juniors being given said privilege more recently.

## Notable alumni

* Bud Byerly, former Major League Baseball player, (St. Louis Cardinals)
* Harry Caray, former Major League Baseball broadcaster, (St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Browns, Oakland Athletics, Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs)
* Skip Caray, former Major League Baseball broadcaster, (Atlanta Braves)
* Rick Cash, former National Football League player, (Atlanta Falcons, Los Angeles Rams, New England Patriots)
* Adrian Clayborn, former National Football League player, (Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Atlanta Falcons, New England Patriots, Cleveland Browns)
* Ivory Crockett, former sprinter
* Bob Dotson, TV journalist (NBC)
* Steve Ewing, lead singer of The Urge
* Peter Fairbanks, MLB player (Texas Rangers, Tampa Bay Rays)
* Jonathan Franzen, author
* Kimberly Gardner, Circuit Attorney for the City of St. Louis
* Charlie James, former MLB player (St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds)
* Ann J. Johanson, pediatric endocrinologist
* Karlie Kloss, supermodel; class of 2011
* Jim Krebs, former NBA player (Los Angeles Lakers)
* Scott Mayfield, hockey player, 34th overall selection by New York Islanders in 2011 NHL Entry Draft
* Russ Mitchell, journalist, former CBS News anchor and current WKYC lead anchor
* Bob Sadowski, former MLB player (St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles)
* Tommy Turner, Olympic sprinter
* Laura Les, class of 2013, musician and member of 100 gecs