[9] Designed by Dallas architect Mark Lemmon, the school opened in 1928,[citation needed] and was constructed in the Elizabethan style.

[10] At the cornerstone-laying ceremony in April 1927, a piece of the wedding cake of Woodrow Wilson's second daughter, Jessie, was included in the cornerstone "in memory of Mr.

Special features of the building included a gymnasium boasting "one entire wall of glass windows" and an auditorium that was to be the "best equipped and best lighted" in the district, with footlights and a separately ventilated orchestra pit.

"[citation needed] Photos and the original blueprints of the school building were featured in an exhibition celebrating the works of Mark Lemmon at The Meadows Museum.

[20] In 2004, thousands attended Woodrow's 75th Anniversary Celebration, which included a parade (from Lakewood to the school, with Congressman Sam Johnson as Grand Marshal, chauffeured in a new Ford Mustang driven by fellow alumnus Carroll Shelby, the legendary auto designer and builder), followed by an auditorium-packed program at which a new group of members was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

[22] Rod Dreher, a politically conservative columnist in The Dallas Morning News, argued that the program was unfair.

During the main ceremony in the school's packed auditorium, the Alumni Association inducted twenty more individuals into Woodrow's Hall of Fame.

In December 2009, Woodrow earned the Texas ACT College Readiness Award,[29] the only Dallas comprehensive high school to receive that honor.

The Community Foundation's purpose is to raise funds, grants, and scholarships to support the faculty, students, and programs at Woodrow and its feeder schools.

This placed Woodrow above all area suburban comprehensive high schools except Highland Park and Colleyville Heritage[34] In 2015, D Magazine put Woodrow and its feeders at the top of the list in a real estate analysis, "Where to Buy for the Best Schools"[35] Kyle Richardson, who served as principal for a five-year period,[36] left in 2016.

In May of that year was replaced by Michael Dang, previously principal of Judge Barefoot Sanders Law Magnet.

[citation needed] The three-story main campus building, made of brick, uses the Neo-Gothic architectural style.

Gene Lyons of Texas Monthly wrote that the design features "all reflect the college-prep institution the school was intended to be" when it was first built, citing the library's bay windows and the large lawn.

[citation needed] The building addition was designed by Brown Reynolds Watford Architects with offices in Dallas, Houston, College Station and San Francisco.

[citation needed] As part of this same project, Woodrow's main 1928 building had its original windows restored and HVAC replaced, including new air exchangers in the auditorium courtyards.

The first-floor restrooms were restored to the historic marble and wood and the second and third level facilities were gutted and replaced with modern fixtures.

Drainage and landscaping improvements were also included in the construction, along with resurfacing of the parking lots and the Tim Brown-Davey O'Brien Track.

[citation needed] As of January 2013, the wing has been occupied by students; the official ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on March 23, 2013.

As of 2011, due to budget cuts, the school ended its "Professional Learning Community" and reduced its custodial staff to two employees.

[30] As of 2019 Woodrow serves:[43] most of the upper east side of East Dallas, including: Caruth Terrace,[44] Greenland Hills (the "M Streets")[45] Hollywood Heights/Santa Monica,[46] Junius Heights,[4] Lakewood,[47] Lakewood Heights,[48] Lower Greenville,[49] most of Munger Place,[50] almost all of Swiss Avenue,[51] Vickery Place,[52] Wilshire Heights,[53] Mount Auburn,[citation needed] the Belmont Addition, Glencoe,[citation needed] and Stonewall Terrace,[citation needed] As of 1979 the attendance boundary included wealthy, middle class, and working class areas: the wealthiest areas were in the north of the zone, the poorest to the south, and the middle-to-upper income ones to the west.

"[19] Lyons stated that in 1971 "People who measure quality by the number of graduates who go to college considered it one of the best public high schools in the city.

[17] In 1979 the PTA requested that the scores from the April 1977 test be broken down by race, but principal Wayne Pierce stated he did not have access to the figures but that DISD did.

The DISD administration stated that students who score 990 or above on the SAT are likely to not require remedial classes when attending universities and colleges.

[57] In 2014, the school improved its number of college ready students (defined by DISD as a 990 SAT score) by 137% despite the fact that 150 more juniors took the test.

The Wildcats, however finished ahead of Kimball with the number one total team offense in the Dallas Morning News' rankings.

[61] In 1953, Woodrow Wilson won the city and state golf championships with brothers Gene and Ross Teter.

[65] In 2012, Woodrow won nine district titles and several teams advanced in the playoffs, which should have moved the school up in ranking (but the newspaper discontinued the awards).

Dallas' Forester Field was named for their father, Herschel, who taught at Woodrow from the opening of the school until the late 1950s.

[57] As of 2018[update] Woodrow Wilson, of all DISD high schools sans magnet or choice programs, had the highest number of transfers.

[19] As of 1979 the parent-teacher association (PTA) largely originated from wealthier neighborhoods in the north of the Woodrow Wilson attendance zone.