 Because of construction delays, the building was not ready for classes in September 1868, so the first classes of the high school were held at the nearby Franklin Township Hall while students in grades 1 – 8 remained at their old schoolhouses. The new building opened on March 14, 1869 with the high school grades located in the southwest room of the second floor and the four primary grades on the first floor. The third floor of the building was an open, multi-purpose room. The school held its first graduation ceremony in July 1869 with a class of just one, a student named Anna Nutting. Nutting later taught at the Union School and eventually became its principal, serving until 1888. The Union School, which would later be known as Central School, served as the home of all Kent students until two additional elementary schools for grades 1 – 6 were constructed in the 1880s. For most of the 1910s, all of the school buildings were overcrowded and the high school graduating classes had grown to nearly 40 students. As a result, a new, separate high school building was built in 1922. The Union / Central building remained in service mainly for grades K – 7 until 1953, when it was closed after the completion of a new Central Elementary School on the same property. It was razed in 1954. Because of Kent High School's location in what became known as the Central School by the late 19th century, the school is often referred to contemporarily and historically as Kent Central High or simply as Central High.
