How much do you know about the history of WBSD?
November 22, 2016
When West Bloomfield Schools was established, there was no West Bloomfield High School. If students living in West Bloomfield wanted to get a high school education, they had to pay tuition to attend Pontiac High School.
The Greater West Bloomfield Historical Society offered further explanation as to why. “West Bloomfield Township was predominantly an agricultural community in the early 1900s, and most of the area schools offered education only through grade eight,” said to The Greater West Bloomfield Historical Society.
The very first high school in West Bloomfield was where Roosevelt Elementary School stands today. The first official high school in West Bloomfield was opened at the Northwest corner of Orchard Lake and Commerce Road in the January of 1955. The same school is now known as Abbott Middle School.
The growing population created a demand for a new high school. The students were housed in four different schools from 1954 to 1971, until a new building was constructed. The current high school was created at 4925 Orchard Lake Road and opened October 24, 1971. These schools were Roosevelt Elementary School, Orchard Lake Middle School, Abbott Middle School, and West Bloomfield High School.
Today, WBHS is on it’s 11th principal, Mr. Patrick Watson. It boasts a 95% graduation rate, over 1,500 students, is a top 200 nationally ranked high school.
