Early builders used native sandstone to construct the first school buildings.
It held first- through twelfth-grade classrooms, administration offices, a 700-seat auditorium, and a gymnasium.
A student who worked on it, Chester Gould, became famous for creating the Dick Tracy comic strip in the 1930s.
Reflecting the segregationist politices of the era, the community built a separate school for African American students in September 1948.
Completed in early 2015, the shelter can fit the entire school population of more than 1,000 people.