[1] Memphis Vocational High School was the first vocational high school in the US,[citation needed] opening with 72 students in grades 7 to 10, before classes began to grow.

Soon a new building was required, and it was decided that the nearby palatial Van Vleet mansion on Poplar Avenue would be demolished in favour of a modern school building.

The school board paid $90,000 for the 10-acre (40,000 m2) property on which the home was located, and spent $500,000 to build the new school, built by the architectural firm of Hanker, Cairns, and Wallace.

At the main entrance were four Corinthian columns, supporting a portico on the front.

Some elements from the previous Van Vleet mansion were retained, including two stone lions at the east gate (since moved to the entrance of Memphis Zoo and then to a central location within the zoo), a stone bench from the mansion's green house, and two large classic urns at the top of the entrance steps.