Chattanooga Central High School

Chattanooga Central High School is a public high school in Harrison, Tennessee, operated by the Hamilton County Board of Education.

Chattanooga Central High School
Location
5728 Highway 58 Harrison, Tennessee 37341 United States
Coordinates	35°06′34″N 85°08′07″W
Information
Type	Public high school
Opened	September 1907 (1907-09)
School district	Hamilton County Schools
Principal	Phil Iannarone [1]
Teaching staff	52 (FTE)[2]
Enrollment	875 (2018-19)[2]
Student to teacher ratio	17.77[2]
Color(s)	Purple and gold
Team name	Purple Pounders
Website	chs.hcde.org

Central High School opened in September 1907 on Dodds Avenue in Chattanooga.[3] It was one of Chattanooga's first public high schools. Its students came from all over the Hamilton County area and the school was highly acclaimed. In 1969, the high school was relocated to Highway 58 in Harrison.[4]

The school athletics teams originally went by the name Purple Warriors as the school colors are purple and gold. During an exceptionally good year in the 1930s a local sportswriter began to opine that they often "pounded" their opponents; the name stuck. The "Purple Pounders" is the current name, often illustrated with a hammer and anvil.[5][6]

From the summer of 2008 until April 2018, Finley King was the school's principal. He was the second former student to serve as principal. Phil Iannarone is the current principal.[1]

In early September 2019, an unidentified school administrator ordered washroom mirrors painted over because students were spending too much time checking their appearance. The decision was reversed after a Facebook post about it went viral.[7]