Oneida Yearbook Collection

Oneida High School can trace its roots to the formation of a union free school district in 1882. Classes were held for many years in the elementary school on Elizabeth Street. The district's first high school building, with 10 classrooms as well as a third-floor auditorium and a basement "manual training" room, was constructed at 457 Main Street in 1903. When the new "state-of-the-art" high school at 452 Elizabeth Street opened in 1928, across the field from the old building, the old high school reverted to a junior high school. The two buildings were later connected by a tunnel.
By 1926 Oneida's union free school district had legally been converted into a city school district. The city district included only the Inner (or inside tax) District of Oneida. Students in the Outer District were divided among smaller or adjacent town school districts. The Kenwood section of Oneida, for example, became part of the newly formed Vernon-Verona-Sherrill Central School District in 1950.
After rejecting the proposal in 1954, the voters of Oneida turned around in 1955 to approve the creation of a consolidated city school district. The new city district absorbed the Crescent Valley, Dry Dock, Country Club and Mount Hope school districts within the city limits plus the outlying districts of Durhamville, Lenox Furnace, Oneida Castle, Oneida Valley, Sconondoa and Wampsville. Meanwhile, Sylvan Beach's junior and senior high students attended the Oneida High School. The merger led to new construction and expansion of district facilities. Oneida High School moved into its present building on Seneca Street in Oneida in 1959.
Source: David H. Alvord, Oneida , New York: A Bit of America at Its Best (2001).