On February 5, 1939, John Bartram High School, located at the intersection of 67th Street and Elmwood Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia, opened for the first time to 1,700 students.

It was built to relieve overcrowding at West Philadelphia High School due to population increases in the southwest part of the city.

It was one of the first Philadelphia high schools named for a prominent individual rather than a geographic region of the city.

[3] The building is one city block long and the capacity of the school is about 3000 students.

English classes are to help students improve their reading, grammar, writing skills, and vocabulary.