The original Anderson High School sat on the corner of North Fant and East Calhoun Streets. All grade levels were taught despite being called a high school. This school burned down in 1904 and was rebuilt the following year. Due to overcrowding, students of Anderson High School continued to be placed in several different school locations. To alleviate the problem, the school board contracted architect J.M. Baldwin to draw plans for a new school. The school board purchased two lots of land on the corner of Greenville and North McDuffie Streets. The new building was completed in 1918. In September of 1918, Anderson High School opened for the first time at 200 Greenville Street.
The high school caught fire in 1921, which consumed the auditorium and ruined the entire south side of the building. In that year, the school board decided there was a need for two high schools, one school for the girls and the other for the boys. The school board's rational for the separation was to allow each school to teach subjects and skills beneficial to each gender. The newly renovated Anderson High School became Girls High School.
The new school building was named Anderson Boys High School and located on the corner of South McDuffie and Broyles Street. Opening day was September 3, 1923. Four acres of land behind Boys High School were later purchased for athletic fields. The sports fields were dedicated on November 14, 1924, and the next day, Clemson planted The Citadel on the new fields with Citadel winning 20-0. Boys High School burned down in May of 1925 and was re-built by December 1925.
In 1961, the decision was made that students would no longer be separated by gender. By September 1962, the students from both high schools were reunited into one school for the first time since 1923. The students began school for the 1962-63 school year in the school built further out on Greenville Street and was named T.L. Hannah High School. The Boys High School building was used for extracurricular classes. Later it was reopened as a vocational high school and renamed McDuffie High School. Major renovations occurred which changed the appearance of the building so that the only thing left of the original Boys High School today is the left arched entranceway.
Boys High Mural sponsored by Boys High and Hannah High (Girls High) Class of 1962.
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