Manual permanently merged with the Louisville Girls High School in 1950 and moved into their Gothic-style three-story building, built in 1934.

The Victorian building was built on the corner of Brook and Oak Streets by the firm of Clark and Loomis, which also designed the Speed Art Museum and Waverly Hills Sanatorium.

[4] Manual's first principal, Henry Kleinschmid, was a favorite of du Pont but was unpopular with the school board, which conspired to replace him in 1895.

Despite a summer of controversy and protest from the du Pont family, Manual's first two graduating classes and the four major local newspapers, the board replaced him with Harry Brownell on July 2.

[5] Manual was initially a three-year school with some general academic classes and an emphasis on mechanical and industrial training.

[5] In order to accommodate newly added French and Latin classes, Manual was expanded to a four-year school in 1901.

Parents objected to their children having to travel between the two buildings and the consolidation did not save the school board any money, so they voted to end the experiment in 1919.

This fusion of institutions resulted in the birth of the modern duPont Manual High School – dropping 'Training' from its previous name.

Red and White Day eventually became a full week of school spirit related activities preceding the annual Male-Manual football game.

Two traditions of the sexually segregated past, sororities and the all-male Mitre Club, persisted into the 1950s as unofficial organizations but gradually faded away.

[14] Following the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, Manual became racially integrated without controversy in 1956 and graduated its first two black students in 1958.

[15] Starting in the 1960s, Manual began to face problems associated with inner city schools in the United States as economically advantaged families moved towards Louisville's suburbs.

[16] On November 11, 1976, what school board members referred to as a race-related riot occurred on campus, injuring 16 and leading to six arrests and 60 suspensions.

Throughout the decade the administration gradually dropped the last vestiges of its manual training emphasis as the number of shop classes dwindled from 16 in 1971 to three in 1979.

[22] A few days after the proposal was announced, about 300 students walked out of class at Manual and marched to Central High School, where most of them were being transferred, in protest.

[24] In the midst of the transition to magnet school, Manual underwent a $1.9 million building improvement plan which added computer and science labs.

[30] Dr. Jeffrey Wigand, the subject of the film, taught science and Japanese at Manual after he was fired by tobacco company Brown & Williamson in 1993.

The main building was originally called Reuben Post Halleck Hall and was home to the Louisville Girls High School before it merged with Manual.

[5] In 1967 an urban renewal program demolished a residential block east of the main building to create a running track and various athletic fields.

[34] In 1992, Manual began a $3.5 million renovation of the main building which included a new roof and a glass-enclosed cafeteria for juniors and seniors.

The High School University (HSU) magnet offers a traditional college preparatory curriculum with electives.

To earn class credit, J&C students can participate in the creation of the school's national award-winning publications and productions: yearbook (The Crimson), a city-wide youth newsmagazine (On the Record), literary magazine (One Blue Wall), a school news website (RedEye) and a daily morning television show called CSPN-TV, which is streamed online and broadcast to classrooms.

Admission to the HSU, MST and J&C magnets are decided by a committee of Manual teachers based on academic performance as measured by prior school grades and the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System, although extracurricular involvement is also considered.

[45][46] The Visual Arts magnet provides students with the opportunity to work with a variety of media, including clay/sculpture, fibers, printmaking, painting, drawing and graphic design.

[48] Qualifying students may take college courses free of charge at the University of Louisville, which is located directly south of Manual.

Manual has been mentioned several times in lists of America's top high schools in Redbook and Newsweek magazines.

[52] In 2015, duPont Manual had the distinction of being the high school that sent the most students to the INTEL International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).

An early baseball star was Ferdie Schupp, who would go on to pitch in the 1917 World Series, but left Manual two months before graduating.

A total of ten Manual players have played in Major League Baseball, most notably Pee Wee Reese.

[71] The school also offers basketball, dance (called the Dazzlers), field hockey, golf, lacrosse, and volleyball, among other sports teams.