[8] The four young women constituted the first class, which met in a corner of a classroom in the Whittier Building (which, by that time, featured instruction in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades).

[9] White's Romanesque Revival three-story structure featured a small central circular building, two rectangular wings, and an eight-story, four-faced clock tower.

[9][10] Wood for the interior supports, roof, and steps were cut from massive trees logged in the Rocky Mountains and floated down the Missouri River.

[9] An urban legend (which may have begun as early as the 1910s) began to circulate that the old boiler room was turned into a swimming pool, and that a student drowned in the pool—leaving the high school haunted.

[25][26] Other tunnels ran beneath the building and then 1963 T-wing, providing maintenance staff with access to the electrical and steam heating system and capable of acting as nuclear fallout shelters.

A two-story industrial arts annex (connected to the main building via a skywalk) was opened in 1975, significantly expanding the school's ability to offer vocational-technical education.

[14] In 1979,[30] after GFHS was warned it could lose its accreditation due to the cramped conditions of its 50-year-old gymnasium, the school district built Bison Fieldhouse[14]—a modern sports facility with 3,600-seat basketball arena,[31] A 25 yard swimming pool, complete with warmup pool, classrooms, weight-training room, boys and girls lockerrooms, offices, sports training and conditioning rooms, and parking lot.

In 1999, a local attorney and his family donated $300,000 to GFHS to build a one-story addition to the northern end of the school to accommodate wrestling training and weight-lifting facilities.

In September 1998, the Montana Human Rights Commission agreed, and ordered the school district to make improvements and pay the family a monetary settlement.

[37] During his tenure at the school, he introduced girls' sports for the first time, installed the first computers for student use, and led the fight to win funding to construct the fieldhouse.

[1] Great Falls High School is a modified Renaissance Revival structure,[52] and the building and its campus were designed to imitate an Ivy League college.

However, construction of the industrial arts annex, closure of 4th Street South, and other alterations to the campus plan led the school to treat its unadorned, plain east entrance as its main access portal.

[54] Students from GFHS maintain a giant "GF" logo on the side of Hill 57 (near the intersection of Valley View Drive and 11th Street NW), which overlooks the city of Great Falls.

)[57] In December 2009, First Interstate Bancorp donated a life-size, iron buffalo sculpture (titled "Rolling Thunder") to Great Falls High School.

In February 2010, Dr. Cheryl K. Crawley, Great Falls Public Schools Superintendent, established a task force to study the physical plant at GFHS.

The proposal included $20.76 million in infrastructure improvements at GFHS,[63] to include a new heating and ventilation system; replacement of all electrical outlets and circuit-breaker panels; replacement of all fresh water pipes, sinks, toilets, and water fountains; replacement of insulation-covered 1960s windows with new energy-efficient windows; remodeling of all main building classrooms (including installation of audio-visual and other flexible modern teaching technology); creation of new parking areas; installation of a main fiber optic line in the main building, with a peripheral line to each classroom; and construction of a reliable and high-speed wireless system throughout the campus.

[64] The proposal also included $16.57 million in new construction at Great Falls High,[63] including construction of a "Hub" building containing career and technical education (CTE) classrooms;[65][a] eight science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) classrooms;[66] a modern and expanded cafeteria and dining space; an informal social and gathering space for students; two new main entrances to the school (replacing the existing main building and fieldhouse entrances).

[b] The 68,000 square feet (6,300 m2)[66] Hub would also act as a bridging structure, connecting the main building, existing industrial arts annex, fieldhouse, and South Campus so that students would no longer need to go outdoors to move from one facility to another.

[65] Another $705,000 would be spent replacing sod at Memorial Stadium with artificial turf, to allow more use and generate more revenue as well as to cut down substantially on maintenance costs.

[25] The school board was not receptive to this latter idea, but agreed to endorse an effort by a group of private citizens to try to raise the required $2.2 million total.

[74] Following the study committee's report, the school board agreed to use a one-time refund on insurance premiums to pay for $575,000 in repairs at Memorial Stadium.

[76] The school board had yet to decide whether the track should be expanded to 10 lanes, but did agree to solicit bids to determine the cost of improving the west grandstand.

[78] In June 2000, the school board agreed to tap its general maintenance fund to pay for the work on the west bleachers after these cost estimates came in much lower than expected.

[78] The board authorized contract talks with local Coca-Cola and Pepsi bottlers in August 2000 to secure a $250,000 payment in exchange for giving the two companies exclusive distribution rights in city schools.

[80] Although the contractor saved money because work proceeded ahead of schedule (due to mild weather), an additional $13,558 was appropriated for the improvements after workers discovered that the west concourse beneath the stands had been built directly on clay rather than on a foundation.

In 1943, famed jazz trumpet player Louis Armstrong and his band performed for the GFHS Senior Prom (held at the Great Falls Civic Center).

Credits are offered by 12 departments, which include art, business, drama, English, family and consumer services, foreign (world) language, health enhancement and physical education, industrial technology, mathematics, music, science, and social studies.

[94] More recently, GFHS has had trouble meeting the "adequate yearly progress" (AYP) standards established by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB).

Corrective actions could include wholesale replacement of staff, introduction of a new curriculum, or extending the amount of time students spend in class.

[53] The Hi-life won a fourth-place prize in the Class A division of the prestigious Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) student news awards in 1931.