EAST TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL, a comprehensive coeducational high school, was the first public trade school in the Greater Cleveland area. The new enterprise was one of only 5 technical high schools in the country when it opened as Technical High School on 5 Oct. 1908 in a brick building with Gothic facade at 2470 E. 55th St. East Tech, as it was called after 1910, was originally coeducational. It became an all-male school in 1929 when female pupils were transferred to John Hay High School, and it became coeducational again in 1952 when CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL and East Tech were merged. Jas. F. Barker of Muskegon, MI, the school's first principal (1906-11), often referred to as "the Father of East Tech," was instrumental in establishing a new type of secondary training, which combined a general education with technical training in a specialized field. He extended the school day as well as the school year. East Tech's enrollment increased as young Clevelanders, predominantly students of immigrant families, enrolled in the program. Later the school became one of the city's predominantly black secondary schools. The school became a leader in interscholastic athletics, winning city championships in football (1915-23); innumerable Senate, city, sectional, state, district, and regional championships in basketball (1950s); and over 13 state championships in track, particularly during the days when future Olympic stars JESSE OWENS, Dave Albritton, and Harrison Dillard attended. Following dedication of a new building across the street at 2439 E. 55th St. on 11-12 Oct. 1972, the original building was demolished.
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Garrett, Zulieme. The Story of East Technical High School (1936).