Events

1941

Muscogee County receives a half-million dollar appropriation from the Federal government to build a school in south Columbus, primarily to serve military families.

1943

Newton D. Baker School established. Construction was completed in August and classes start on September 13 for grades 1-12. The school was named for Newton Diehl Baker (1871-1937), who was appointed Secretary of War on March 7, 1916 by President Woodrow Wilson. He served until 1921 and directed the U.S. war effort during World War I. The school was called "Baker Village School" by local residents. Britt Ware '53 wrote a recollection of those early years. 

1945

The first high school class graduates from Baker in June.

First edition of the Arrowhead. Baker's yearbook is named to reflect the heritage of the Muscogee Indians, who once lived where Baker stands.

1946

The Class of '46 Erects a Freestanding "Cornerstone" 

Freestanding Cornerstone
Presented by the Class of 46

which commemorates the founding of Baker High and quotes Horace Mann: Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity. September. 

1950

Baker Switches to Twelve-Year Format. Previously only eleven years were required to graduate. Read about the change as told by Bill Dawson '52. 

1954

Baker's first state championship, in basketball; other state titles were for basketball in 1956 and for track in 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968 and 1969.

1956

The Band Room addition is built on the west side of the school, next to what was then the gym.

1958

Last Kindergarten through Sixth Grade classes start school at Baker in September.

First enriched classes at Baker. The students referred to these as "accelerated" classes. There were also remedial classes. This three-tier grouping of students at Baker was a first in Muscogee County.

1959

Last Seventh Grade class starts school at Baker in September.

Alcie Mae Dennis Chapter of National Honor Society Chartered February 10.

First edition of the Lions' Tale student handbook is published by the Student Council. By the sixth edition (1964) the Lions' Tale had grown to a 76-page booklet.

1960

The first Honor Student Banquet was held under the auspices of the Student Council. Each teacher selected one honor student, and the honor students, by secret ballot, selected the honor teacher. The keynote speaker was William Henry Shaw.

Alabama Polytechnic Institute officially became Auburn University, although it had been called that for years. Many Baker faculty members received advanced degrees from Auburn.

1961

Newt Gingrich (we called hi "Newton") graduates from Baker. Newt went on to be Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999.

1963

Baker gets a Western Electric 555 cord switchboard.

1964

 Mike Omelanuk '64 sent in scans of the front cover and inside of the 1964 graduation invitation.

This year for the first time, several girls who did not play an instrument in the band were selected as majorettes. Previously, one had to play an instrument to be a majorette.

The Dandy Lions drill team is formed.

1965

Baker 39, Columbus 7.

Official Dedication Ceremony for Baker High School. The dedication was somehow overlooked until Principal Oscar P. Boyles held the ceremony in 1965.

Baker High is Integrated. The first African-American students (it was polite to say "Negroes" then) were Robert Leonard and Larry Smith. Robert is remembered for the "Cassius Clay" skit, and for getting for getting one of the loudest rounds of applause at graduation. Larry was on the State Championship-winning track team.

1969

Donald Ray Johnston '66 is awarded posthumously the Congressional Medal of Honor "For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty."

1970

First edition of the Lion's Pride, the new title for Baker's yearbook. Read about the change as told by Glenn Wells '60 and faculty.

1971

Baker Auditorium Burns March 31 by Walt Egenmaier

1990

Class of 1990 graduates, June 6.

1991

The last High School class graduates from Baker. June 6. The buildings remain in use and are the home of Baker Middle School.

1995 (Baker High School in Cyber-World)

The @Baker World Wide Web Server is started for the first time at 7:20 PM on November 26. The first outside access was December 7.

1999

Baker Middle School moves out of the Baker High buildings, leaving the buildings vacant. Baker Middle School moved into a new building farther east on Benning Drive. The Baker High buildings fall into disrepair.

The @Baker server had a disk crash early on the morning of April 27. The server was down for over a month, and came back on line about 4:30 PM on May 31.

2000

Baker's first all-class reunion, B.U.M.S. 2000 was held in Columbus the last week in July. It was huge success.

2001

Lynn Wyatt '72 took over most of the duties as Webmaster @Baker. He completed an enormous backlog of registrations in record time and breathed new life into the @Baker project.

A new @Baker server came online at 8:15 PM on Thanksgiving day. The original server ran for six years and served over a million Web pages. The new server has enough memory, disk space, and CPU power to let us move into the next decade of Web services.

2004

The Lions Forever all-class reunion is a resounding success.

2005

Bill Dawson, '52, wrote a fond reflection, Remembering Baker,  for the Lions-L mailing list.

The @Baker Server is kicked out of the data center where one of us used to work, and we're running on a commercial Web hosting server now. The move was not without lumps and bumps, but we also got newer software and better services out of the change.

Sylvia Head takes over as the Baker Webmaster.

The Classes of 1965 and 1970 return to Columbus for reunions.

2008

Ms. Terry Nunnally Todd created our All Class Baker website www.bakerlionspride.com (see Lionspride Site Info) for "rest of the story".

Nov 08: First Lions' Gathering at Cook's Place in Columbus, GA

2009

Apr 09: SPRING FLING (2nd Lions' Gathering) at Cook's Place with 650+ Lions in attendance!

Oct 09: RESTORE THE ROAR! (3rd Lions' Gathering) at Cook's Place with 980+ Lions in attendance! WOW!