In the History
The different wings of the building where erected at different times, the north and west wings began in 1907-1908. The cornerstone was laid January 3, 1909.
Students where shuffled from the Ruskin School building under the name of East End School once wings where finished of the Stivers Building.
The school name was changed from East End High School to Stivers Manual Training High School in 1913. By 1915 Manual Training had been dropped from the name, by the Board of Education.
Stivers High School was named after Captain Charles B. Stivers. Captain Stivers served in the Civil War; an instructor in military tactics and mathematics. Captain Stivers was a Dayton Public School Principal for 26 years.
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In 1912 the old Lincoln Building was torn down, making room for the last wing to be constructed. Finished September of 1914, the school grew rapidly, faculty increased from eight to sixty- three. The walls of Stivers contained four other schools: Co-Operative, Continuation, Prevocational, and Make-Time.
Boys in the Co-Op school worked in factories then studied in the class room for two weeks alternating.
The Continuation school students worked in shops or factories for half the day, spending the second half at Stivers.
The Prevocational school was meant to prepare younger classman for the Co-Op School as Juniors and Seniors.
The Make-Time students took eighth grade and freshman course work at the same time.
Stivers continued to grow, in 1925 the Board of Education decided that all 9th grade students would be assigned to a junior high school building. Stivers then became a Senior High School.
The grounds of 1313 E. Fifth Street has worn many hats through out the last century. What is most important is that everyone who entered the halls of Stivers is a Tiger.
In 1982 The building was put to use as an intermediate magnet school serving seventh though nineth grade students. Renamed again to Stivers Middle School for the Arts, with a focus on visual and performing arts. The growth continued in 1996, a grade was added each year, this would produce the first class to graduate from Stivers School for the Arts in 2000.
The year 2000 was a very big year for Stivers, not only was it the first class to graduate again after a 34 year break, the building was in jeopardy of being demolished. This is when the fight to save Stivers began. In 2001 Stivers was added to the Register of National Historic Places. The community of Stivers began to to raise funding for the renovation. In 2002 a bond issue was passed matching the funds that where generated by the community of Stivers. The renovations could begin.
The rebirth of the building would cause students to be temporarily relocated to the Homewood Campus (Old Julianne High School Building), 1313 E. Fifth Street was reopened October 2008. The $35 million renovation would bring the original building back to life, with updated HVAC, lighting , ADA restrooms, new technology throughout the building.
The addition to the building would create space for a state of the art performance auditorium, sound-isolated practice rooms, 1,300 seat gymnasium, new soccer field with track.
Stivers offers eight art programs, advance placement classes, along with many extra curricular activities.