The first Hughes High School was established in 1853 on property on Fifth and Mound streets.

Hughes Center was a team-based magnet school dedicated to the Paideia philosophy.

The Paideia philosophy is based upon the belief that all students can be successful in a rigorous college preparatory curriculum.

Programs available at Hughes Center included: The last principal of Hughes Center was Dr. Virginia Rhodes and the school program was closed with the graduating class of 2012.

A NSF grant aimed at creating scalable models of STEM schools paid for much of the upstart and transition costs, many of which were related to technology equipment acquisition.