[4] By fall 1954 East Ridge High School had grown so much that the sixth grade was holding classes at the town hall and in basements of local churches.

The overcrowding was partially alleviated by the opening of the $600,000 East Ridge Junior High School that December, but the town hall continued to hold classes for four more years.

The Hamilton County Board of Education voted in March 1957 to buy 28 acres along Bennett Road from former East Ridge mayor Foy Crabtree to build a new high school.

East Ridge High held its first commencement June 1, 1961, on Shanks Field with 113 graduates.

A baseball field was added in 1976, a track in 1978, a vocational building in 1980, tennis courts the following year, and a new gym in 1986.