It’s 100 years and counting for Burlingame High School

But it’s a relatively quiet data point so far. That’s because the official centennial celebration isn’t scheduled for another full year, in October of 2023.

Still, it’s worth noting how Burlingame High, which opened its doors in December of 1923 as “San Mateo High School, Burlingame Branch,” got its start. It took some doing.

From 1902 to the founding of BHS, San Mateo High was the only public secondary school north to San Bruno. As the population grew, pressure increased to add campuses in the region.

There was considerable interest in Burlingame for such a move. In 1921, civic boosters and others in the town began to campaign to authorize a bond package to build a high school there.

An initial bond measure failed that year. But a second one was given the OK by voters in the district months later. According to a history of the effort, the vote was 1,710 in favor, 280 opposed, well in excess of the two-thirds nod required for passage.

The bond’s face amount was $360,000. Of that, $60,000 was to be used to purchase the land from the Carolan family, which had been using it (and adjoining acreage) for an extensive horse farm and race track.

Ground for the new campus was broken in April of 1922. Construction was rapid. The new school remained a branch of San Mateo High until a new campus for that student body opened on North Delaware Street in 1927.

When BHS opened, it welcomed 350 students. Enrollment grew as the county grew. By the late-1960s, Burlingame High had an enrollment of 1,392. But there was trouble brewing.

A new town was being built on reclaimed marshland to the east of San Mateo. Foster City, once inhabited, would be part of the high school district.

Plans were drawn up in 1969 to create Marina High School there for a projected 3,300 students. Financing, in part, would be provided by selling much of the prime land BHS rested on.

Needless to say, outrage flared up quickly among the concerned Burlingame citizenry. At the same time, student numbers began to dip throughout the Peninsula. By 1970, the notion of a Marina High was put on indefinite hold. Burlingame High, for the moment, was saved.

Four years later, as enrollments continued to slide, BHS again was threatened with closure. But that option was shot down fairly quickly as the community, alumni and others rallied around it.

At the time, a local newspaper editorialized that the school “was the beating heart of the Burlingame-Hillsborough area.” That was, and is, no exaggeration.

The divisive question again came to the forefront in 1979-80 as the BHS enrollment plummeted to roughly half of what it was in the 1960s.

District trustees, faced with the twin challenges of declining pupil figures and associated fiscal issues, eventually had to choose between closing Burlingame or Crestmoor High School, located in western San Bruno.

By a single vote, the trustees opted to shutter Crestmoor. There was considerable grumbling in San Bruno, especially when it was clear that the influence of Burlingame and Hillsborough policymakers were key to swinging the decision.

Three of the trustees lived in Hillsborough at the time of the June 1980 vote. BHS survived but the struggle had been emotional, controversial and exhausting.

Today, the school appears to be thriving. Enrollment has climbed back to 1,450. Tens of millions of dollars have been spent upgrading facilities and equipment. A new gymnasium/fitness complex is scheduled to be under construction next year.

There’s a new principal, Dr. Jen Fong, on board as the BHS 100th birthday party looms next year.

The school’s classic facade in a tree-studded, manicured parklike setting near downtown remains one of the more striking traditional buildings in San Mateo County.

Burlingame High, a three-time survivor of closure plans, has weathered more than its share of turbulent storms through the decades. Its future seems bright.

Email John Horgan at johnhorganmedia@gmail.com.