This week in history: Dreyfoos School of the Arts opens

The former Palm Beach High reopened on Aug. 20, 1997, after a $29.5 million renovation, as the Alexander W. Dreyfoos Jr. School of the Arts. The first school on the site had opened in 1908, replacing a four-room schoolhouse at Clematis and Dixie. Parents at the time worried about sending their children so far out of town into the wilderness. A new high school building opened in 1915, a third building opened in 1922, and a fourth in 1927.

In 1970 the school changed its name to Twin Lakes, which closed in June 1988. It briefly operated as Palm Beach Lakes High until that school’s new campus opened in 1989, then remained vacant until 1997.

Palm Beach High School in 1908. The 1928 hurricane destroyed the tower. (Photo courtesy of the Historical Society of Palm Beach County).

Tags: schools, This Week in History