North Hunterdon High School

A survey completed in the Fall of 1943 recommended the formation of a regional district as “both practical and feasible.” A committee was formed in 1944 to establish the comparative costs of building and operating a regional high school and to make recommendations. In April of 1945, a favorable report to build a high school was submitted by the committee, and in October 1947, the electors approved the formation of North Hunterdon Regional High School District. In 1948, the Board of Education purchased the tract of approximately fifty acres in Annandale on Route 69, and in 1950 the citizens approved a $700,000.00 bond issue.

Ground for the building was broken on April 16, 1950. The original school contained ten regular classrooms, seven special rooms for science, home economics, manual training, business education, art and music, a library, an agriculture annex housing a shop and classroom, a cafeteria, a combination auditorium and gymnasium, administrative offices and a health room. The building had a student body capacity of 600 students. A staff of twenty-five teachers, a librarian, a guidance director, a school nurse and a supervising principal administered the school program.

When the school opened on September 10, 1951, five hundred students arrived. The school was dedicated by Harry W. Moore, the Hunterdon County Superintendent of Schools. In 1955, a proposal to construct an addition to North Hunterdon High School was passed during a special election because of the projected enrollment of 973 students by 1960. Added to the original structure were fifteen classrooms, three student conference rooms, one band room, one choral music room, four shops, one agriculture laboratory, three homemaking rooms, a larger library, one boys’ gym, one girls’ gym, one auditorium, a larger cafeteria, a larger health unit and a larger office and guidance unit.

In 1967, facilities designed to house 1,120 students were housing over 1,371 students. A proposal was offered and accepted by the public to expand the existing high school to include eighteen new classrooms, nine science rooms, one art room, one reading and speech room, one industrial arts room, one music room, six vocational rooms, a new library, locker rooms, another cafeteria and a faculty dining room.

The last addition to North Hunterdon High School occurred after the passage of a bond referendum in 2001, which added a new gymnasium and new wing of science and math classrooms to the building.

Voorhees High School

As enrollment at North Hunterdon High School continued to increase throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, the need for an additional regional high school became increasingly apparent. In 1967, a major expansion of North Hunterdon High School was approved, which included the purchase of approximately 40 acres of land in Lebanon Township for $71,000. The property was reserved for the construction of a second high school to accommodate the growing student population.

By the early 1970s, North Hunterdon was experiencing significant overcrowding. During the 1974–75 school year, students attended split sessions while plans for the new school were finalized and construction was completed.

In September 1975, Voorhees High School officially opened for the 1975–76 school year in Lebanon Township. The new $7.5 million facility was built to serve students from four communities: Lebanon Township, Califon, High Bridge and Tewksbury Township. Freshmen, sophomores and juniors from these communities transitioned from North Hunterdon High School to Voorhees, while incoming seniors were permitted to remain at North Hunterdon to complete their final year.

The original building was approximately 280,000 square feet, nearly 700 feet long and three stories tall. Its unusually long and narrow design presented unique construction challenges. The building was designed by Breslin Ridyard Fadero Architects to accommodate the educational needs of the growing regional district.

Expansion and Growth

• 1975: Voorhees High School opens, providing additional classroom space and helping alleviate overcrowding at North Hunterdon High School.
• 1978: Hampton and Glen Gardner become sending communities to Voorhees High School, further expanding the school’s student population.
• 1980: A 60,000-square-foot addition is completed. The expansion includes a second gymnasium, an additional cafeteria, technology laboratories and additional classrooms across all three floors.
• 2022: A solar installation project is completed at Voorhees High School as part of the district’s continued investment in its facilities.