Haines City High School

Haines City Senior High School is a public high school in Haines City, Florida. The school has existed in three separate locations.OverviewHaines City Senior High School belongs to the Polk County School Board and is a member of Polk District Schools. Haines City High School was the original high school in the city, opening in 1922. During the 2005-2006 school year, there was a tuberculosis scare due to one of the students being diagnosed.HistoryThe first settlers arrived in Haines City in 1881. Two years later, they built the first school on East Hinson Avenue where the former City Hall building was located. The two-story wooden structure had a school enrollment of nine students. In 1918, a yellow brick elementary school for grades one through eight was built. Any student wishing a high school education had to attend classes in Lakeland, located 25 miles away from Haines City. Clay Cut was the original name of this quaint little town. In 1883, when trains would pass through this Central Florida area, they were lost from sight because of the railroad tracks that were built so deep in the clay. Later, when an officer with the South Florida Railroad named Colonel Henry Haines brought about the building of the town's train station, he was honored with the city being named after him. Thus, Haines City was born.In 1916, the first citrus processing plant in the United States was built in Haines City and made the city all that it is today. The city lived and died with the successes and failures of this processing plant. The town experienced a mighty growth in population through these years until the mid-1890s. Haines City suffered immensely from severe freezes on the citrus crop and the city was almost destroyed by a fire. The citrus industry eventually recovered from the devastation, and in the 1920s, Haines City profited from a large population boost. As a result the community was incorporated, the city limits were expanded and many residential and commercial building were erected. Haines City has grown by leaps and bounds since then and has become a community to be proud of.