[8] Beginning in the 1960s, students took school buses to and from Alpine,[9] with the bus ride being the longest in the United States,[8] with both directions totaling 160 miles (260 km).

[11] After an article in The New York Times was published about the ordeals of students being bussed, with the roundtrip distance being 179.6 miles (289.0 km) and with transportation from the dropoff point being as much as 35 miles (56 km), a fundraising drive to build the new high school began in December 1994.

[12] The fencing and the septic tanks were donated by a Fort Stockton hardware store and a firm in Ohio, respectively.

San Vicente ISD began sending students to Big Bend High when it was established.

Funded with donations and what Sue Ann Pressly of the Los Angeles Times called "the thinnest of shoestring budgets", it had six classrooms and a total cost of $550,000.