Mortimer Jordan High School
Encyclopedia
Mortimer Jordan High School is a public high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 located in Kimberly, Alabama
Kimberly, Alabama
Kimberly is a town in Jefferson County, Alabama, United States. At the 2010 census the population was 2,711. Beginning June 29, 2011, due to the population increase from 1801 persons in 2000, to 2711 persons in 2010, the Town will begin operating as a City....

. It is a part of the Jefferson County Board of Education
Jefferson County Board of Education (Alabama)
The Jefferson County School System is the second-largest public school system in the U.S. State of Alabama and serves most of Jefferson County, Alabama...

.

The school was named after Captain Mortimer Harvie Jordan, a war hero who lost his life in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. He was a soldier, officer and physician. As commanding officer of Company K, 167th infantry, 42nd "Rainbow Division" Alabama Army National Guard, he was mortally wounded while leading his sector in battle. He died of his wounds in 1918 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, is a military cemetery in the United States of America, established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the estate of the family of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's wife Mary Anna Lee, a great...

.

Foundation

Mortimer Jordan High School opened its doors in the fall of 1920 at its original campus in Morris, Alabama
Morris, Alabama
Morris is a city in Jefferson County, Alabama, United States. It is part of the Birmingham–Hoover–Cullman Combined Statistical Area.-Geography:Morris is located at .According to the U.S...

 with a mere ninety students enrolled. Two students, Ms. Sudie Counts Rogers and Ms. Eileen Jenkins Lovelady, graduated that year. The first principal, Ms. Minnie Holliman, and three female teachers completed the faculty. In 1928, a student, Ms. Mabel Creel graduated valedictorian at the age of 13. She was the youngest to graduate with such high honors.

Improvements

The original facility was located in Morris
Morris, Alabama
Morris is a city in Jefferson County, Alabama, United States. It is part of the Birmingham–Hoover–Cullman Combined Statistical Area.-Geography:Morris is located at .According to the U.S...

, with the property directly adjacent to the city limits of Kimberly. This site was occupied until the end of the 2010-11 school year.

The original building of five rooms soon became inadequate and a frame building of eight rooms was added. The first water system for the school was installed during the early 1930s. Alabama By-Product Corporation in Majestic donated the pump and water filter to the school using Turkey Creek as the water source. A teacher and some students installed the system, and water fountains were placed outside the building. Between the years of 1937 and 1941 indoor plumbing and restrooms were installed.

The "old gym" was built by the WPA during 1936 and 1937, around the same time the lunchroom program was established. The first Miss Mortimer Jordan, now Miss Torch, was elected in 1937. Stage curtains were purchased for the gym stage with the proceeds from the pageant.

During the early 1950s, a then up-to-date football and athletic field was constructed. Restrooms in the football stadium were added in 1962.

In its last incarnation at the Morris site, the school consisted of a multi-complex that included two gymnasiums, academic classrooms, and a lunchroom. A music department (band and choir), homemaking department, business education department, and student counseling service were added.

A brand new Mortimer Jordan High School was built on Bone Dry Road, approximately four miles from the old site. It opened in the fall of 2011. The new site, one of a series of new high schools built during the period by the Jefferson County Schools, consists of classroom buildings, an athletics field house, and fields for football, baseball and softball. A competition and a practice gymnasium, as well as greatly enlarged practice facilities for wrestling, are also included.

The original site in Morris is in the midst of conversion into the William E. Burkett Center for handicapped students, which will move from its original location near Fultondale to start the 2012-13 school year.

Sport

The athletic department fields teams in football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

, volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...

, cross country
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...

, basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

, wrestling
Wrestling
Wrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...

, baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

, softball
Softball
Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...

, golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

, and track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...

. The softball team won the Alabama High School Athletic Association
Alabama High School Athletic Association
The Alabama High School Athletic Association , based in Montgomery, is the agency which oversees interscholastic athletic programs for public schools in Alabama....

 Class 5A State Championship in 2008 and 2009, setting a state record in 2009 for most consecutive games won. That streak carried over into the 2010 season, and ended at 59 games when Jordan lost to Angelo Rodriguez High School
Angelo Rodriguez High School
Angelo Rodriguez High School is a public high school located in Fairfield, California. The school serves about 2250 students in grades 9 to 12.-History:...

 of Fairfield, California
Fairfield, California
Fairfield is a city located in Solano County in Northern California, USA. It is generally considered the midpoint between the cities of San Francisco and Sacramento, approximately from the city center of both cities, approximately from the city center of Oakland, less than from Napa Valley, 18...

 in the ESPN RISE/Nike
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...

 Fastest to First Tournament in Huntington Beach, California
Huntington Beach, California
Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County in Southern California. According to the 2010 census, the city population was 189,992; making it the largest beach city in Orange County in terms of population...

 on March 25, 2010. (The team later finished second in the 2010 5A championship, upset by Athens High twice on the final day.) Jordan also won the 2011 championship, only the fourth team in state history to win a title after losing their opening game in the double-elimination tournament.

Since its establishment, Mortimer Jordan High School has had only twelve principals. Former principal Jimmie A. Trotter served over 36 years as a coach and as its principal. The current principal is Barbara Snider.

Mortimer Jordan High School is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools is one of the six regional accreditation organizations recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation...

 and the Alabama Department of Education
Alabama Department of Education
The Alabama State Department of Education is the state education agency of Alabama. It is headquartered at 50 N. Ripley Street in Montgomery....

.

External links

Mortimer Jordan High School Website
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