Shortridge High School

Shortridge High School
Shortridge High School.
Shortridge High School is located in Indianapolis
Shortridge High School
Shortridge High School is located in Indiana
Shortridge High School
Shortridge High School is located in the United States
Shortridge High School
Location3401 N. Meridian St., 46208 Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
Coordinates39°49′8″N 86°9′19″W / 39.81889°N 86.15528°W / 39.81889; -86.15528
Area10.9 acres (4.4 ha)
Built1927
ArchitectKopf & Deery
Architectural styleClassical Revival
Part ofShortridge-Meridian Street Apartments Historic District (ID00000195)
NRHP reference No.83000078[1]
Added to NRHPSeptember 15, 1983

Shortridge High School is a public high school located in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Shortridge is the home of the International Baccalaureate and arts and humanities programs of the Indianapolis Public Schools district (IPS).[2] Originally known as Indianapolis High School, it opened in 1864 and is Indiana's oldest free public high school. New Albany High School (1853) was Indiana's first public high school, but was not initially free.

Author Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Shortridge class of 1940, said that Shortridge was:

"... my dream of an America with great public schools. I thought we should be the envy of the world with our public schools. And I went to such a public school. So I knew that such a school was possible. Shortridge High School in Indianapolis produced not only me, but the head writer on the I LOVE LUCY show (Madelyn Pugh). And, my God, we had a daily paper, we had a debating team, had a fencing team. We had a chorus, a jazz band, a serious orchestra. And all this with a Great Depression going on. And I wanted everybody to have such a school."[3]

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. ^ "Absolute News Manager.NET V5.0 : Licensed to Butler University". Retrieved May 8, 2017.
  3. ^ PBS (April 13, 2007). "NOW – A Tribute To Kurt Vonnegut – PBS". Archived from the original on September 26, 2009. Retrieved May 8, 2017 – via YouTube.