[6] In the 19th century Michael Louis Westheimer, a German immigrant who arrived in Houston in 1859, bought a 640-acre (2.6 km2) farm at an auction for $2.50 per acre.

[15] In that period Lamar was the designation of children of Houston's most prominent families who attended public high schools.

The festivities included appearances from Mayor of Houston Kathy Whitmire, Lamar alum and former Governor of Texas Mark White, Lamar alum and former Mayor of Houston Fred Hofheinz, Superintendent of HISD Joan Raymond, and others who were scheduled to give special presentations.

[24] Fran Callahan, a resident of the Old Braeswood neighborhood of Houston, founded the Lamar Alumni Association in 1998 and became its executive director.

A tour of the Lamar campus and a formal buffet and dance at the Houston Country Club was scheduled for Saturday, November 8, 2003.

In 2007, 22% of high-school-age children zoned to Lamar chose to attend a different Houston ISD school.

The plan includes major renovations to the existing historically significant portions of the north building and an entirely new classroom and instructional facility.

The entrance to the theater is decorated by a relief map of Texas that indicates the state's mountain ranges and escarpment John F. Staub and Kenneth Franzheim designed it, while Lamar Q. Cato, Louis A. Glover, and Harry D. Payne assisted.

[43] Richard Connelly of the Houston Press said that the Lamar building "was ghetto'd up to look like a dilapidated inner-city school.

[citation needed] The time capsule was buried in front of Lamar's main entrance where it lies today.

HEREIN LIES MEMENTOS SELECTED BY STUDENTS AND GRADUATES OF LAMAR HIGH SCHOOL IN COMMEMORATION OF THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY, SEALED ON OCTOBER 17TH, 1987.

THE CAPSULE IS TO BE OPENED ON THE 50th ANNIVERSARY, THE YEAR 2037In 2017, ground was broken for the building of a new $108 million state-of-the-art campus.

Until 1970 HISD categorized Hispanic students as being White, so Jay P. Childers, author of The Evolving Citizen: American Youth and the Changing Norms of Democratic Engagement, wrote that in terms of ethnic ratios, "Exact numbers for the late 1960s are impossible to calculate" for that reason.

[48] As evidence that non-Hispanic White students were the vast majority at that time, he used images from the school newspaper, The Lancer.

[48] Childers wrote that ethnic change "seemed" to have quickly occurred after desegregation, citing the fact that in Spring 1974 African Americans made up six of twelve of the class officers and that in 1972 the cover of one issue of the Lancer showed a black male.

[49] Curtis wrote that some Lamar white students felt that "going to school with blacks [was] a duty they must perform, a quirk of history they must indulge.

[53] Laura Nathan-Garner, author of the second edition of the Insiders' Guide to Houston (2012), wrote that Lamar was "considered one of the area's best public high schools.

[16] In 2007, Lamar was ranked as in Jay Mathews Newsweek's lists of the top high schools in the United States.

All shoe types are permitted, including flip-flops; female students are allowed to wear plaid skirts.

[65] Of the more than twenty HISD high schools that, as of 2007, had a standardized dress code or uniforms, Lamar was the only one that had a White plurality.

[84] Laura Nathan-Garner, author of the second edition of the Insiders' Guide to Houston (2012), wrote that "Many children in [River Oaks] attend [Lamar]".

[87] 7900 Cambridge and 1885 El Paseo, the student housing properties of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, are also zoned to Lamar.

As of 1975 the boundaries were roughly Interstate 10 (Katy Freeway) to the North, the Brays Bayou to the South, Montrose Boulevard to the East, and the 610 Loop to the west.

[16] Students residing in the Margaret Long Wisdom attendance zone,[97] including the Uptown district and the neighborhoods of Briarmeadow, Briargrove,[98] Briarcroft, Gulfton, Larchmont, Tanglewilde, St. George Place (Lamar Terrace), Shenandoah,[99] Tanglewood, West Oaks, Woodlake Forest, Jeanetta, Sharpstown Country Club Estates, and small portions of Westchase east of Gessner, may go to Lamar, Margaret Long Wisdom High, or Westside High.

[105] In April 2014 the HISD school board decided to rename remaining sports team names of Confederate and Native American mascots owing to fears of appearing culturally insensitive.

[20] American football games were the primary outlet of this rivalry, but it manifested itself in other ways; in 1975 Gregory Curtis of the Texas Monthly wrote that "the respective Key Clubs know year by year which club has sold more grapefruit in the Christmas drive and more tickets to the spring Pancake Breakfast.

"[110] According to Curtis, the rivalry "is as natural as it is intense" because the schools had students from the same social class and general geographic area.

[112] A male student interviewed by Curtis stated that cheerleaders had more status than American football players.

[115] Lamar's football program has regularly advanced to state eliminations rounds, meeting teams from more rural areas of Texas.

[125] At the time the clubs had a membership capacity; those with more prospective members than slots held lotteries that randomly determined who is permitted to join.