[2] The high school dates back to 1889, when it was opened at 300 South Broad Street in a mansion that had been donated to the city that same year by Joseph Battin, president of the Elizabethtown Water Company, and namesake of the school.

[2] In 1977, district officials stated that the inability to determine attendance zones for the two comprehensive high schools after Thomas Jefferson High School opened in 1929 combined with the expansive shop facilities in the new building, led the district to decide to split students by sex, with girls at Battin and boys at Thomas Jefferson.

[4] On January 22, 1952, a Convair 240 operated as American Airlines Flight 6780 was flying on a route initiating in Buffalo, New York, on final approach to runway 6 at Newark Airport in heavy fog conditions and crashed at 3:45 p.m., narrowly missing the high school.

All 23 on board the plane (20 passengers and 3 crew) and an additional 8 people on the ground, were killed in the crash and ensuing fire, though the plane never hit the school building, as some earlier reports had indicated, and there were no students in the building at the time of the crash.

The $29.3 million project included renovations to Thomas Jefferson High School, which was integrated into the new complex.