Welcome to Johnson High School

A Brief History

How it all began… The Johnson & Johnson Corp, which

at the time operated the textile plant at Chicopee, owned a huge tract of land in South Hall County that included the current JHS campus, as well as the land that is now Elachee Nature Center and Chicopee Woods Golf Course.

How it all began…

In the early 70’s they approached the Hall County Board of Education with a proposal. They would donate a very large tract of land to the school system if the Board would agree to build a new high school and name it after one of the leaders of the company, Robert Wood Johnson.

Robert Wood Johnson II (1893-1968)

Johnson was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey His father was Robert Wood Johnson I, co-founder of Johnson & Johnson. When he was sixteen, their father died, leaving him an estate of $2,000,000. He was attending a private school at the time, and dropped out a few months later to starting working full-time at J&J.

Robert Wood Johnson

Johnson became vice president at J&J in 1918. Johnson also had an abiding interest in politics, and served a term as the Mayor of Highland Park, New Jersey.

He was elected president of Johnson & Johnson from 1932–1938, and became chairman of the board of J&J in 1938.

Robert Wood Johnson At the outbreak of World War II, Johnson's work in

identifying products needed by the war effort resulted in the invention of duct tape for sealing ammunition boxes.

J&J plant managers simply took their existing cloth medical adhesive tape, added a waterproof plastic layer with a more aggressive adhesive, and produced it in olive drab green to match the ammunition cans. During the war, J&J would become a major supplier for combat first aid kits and other military supplies.

Johnson died in 1968. He left the bulk of his $400,000,000 estate to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is the United States largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care; it is based in Princeton, New Jersey.

The foundation's mission is to improve the health and health care of all Americans. The foundation has $7.5 billion in assets, generating grants approaching $400 million a year to "address the nation’s most complex health and health care issues.

So it begins…

Thus, the official name was Robert Wood Johnson Memorial High School, which became known by its current name, Johnson High.

How it all began…

The district did not change at all to accommodate the new building, the students merely moved from their previous building at South Hall High. The Board had to be creative in determining what to do with that building, which was still in very good condition.

South Hall Begins…

They made it a Junior High for grades 7&8, the only one in the system. It did not change until the late 80’s at which time South Hall Junior High changed to its current name and grade alignment 6-8 South Hall Middle School.

Johnson Opens August 1972

Robert Wood Johnson High School opened in August of 1972. Two new concepts in education began with Johnson’s opening--the quarter system and the open classroom concept.

The triangle rooms explained! Classrooms had no doors and only portable

dividers separated students. Since then, walls have gone up, doors have been installed, and the quarter system has been replaced with a semester system. These aspects are small examples of the enormous changes that have occurred over the 40 year history of Robert Wood Johnson High School.

“Welcome to the Dungeon” Johnson High School got its own

football stadium in 1990, which has become nicknamed the “dungeon,” and now serves as the home of our football and soccer teams.

On September 28, 2001, the stadium was officially dedicated as the Billy Ellis Memorial Stadium in honor of Mr. Billy Ellis, longtime Johnson Principal and beloved Knight who lost a valiant battle with cancer earlier that year.

Additions to the school

The Vocational Wing of the school officially opened in 1973.

In 1982 the Frank J. Knight Center was completed, the Frank J. Knight Center is home to many PE classes, basketball games, volleyball games and school assemblies.

In 1996, Johnson proudly dedicated its new Performing Arts Center, which is now home to drama, band, and chorus productions as well as other school functions.

The rest is up to you…

Knights Creed:

Be Respectful Be Honest Take Personal Responsibility You are blessed with talent, use that

talent to make a difference!

GO BIG BLUE!!