Riverside High School is a four-year secondary institution in Jacksonville, Florida. It was originally named after Confederate States of America general Robert E. Lee. Located in the Riverside and Avondale neighborhood, it is the second oldest high school in Jacksonville operating at its original location, after its traditional rival, Andrew Jackson High School. The name was changed to Riverside High School in 2021.
Riverside is part of the Duval County magnet school program. Eligible students at the school can earn concurrent credit through the Jacksonville Early College High School program. They receive high school credits from the school and college credit from Florida State College at Jacksonville (F.S.C.J) for the same courses.
Riverside students can also specialize in courses through the Engineering Academy or the Math and Science Magnet Program. In addition, there is a Liberal Arts curriculum. The Early College, Engineering, Math and Science, plus Liberal Arts courses of study are known as the school's four learning communities.
Riverside is one of 20 high schools in the Duval County Public Schools. Riverside, like all other district schools, is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
History
Architect Victor Earl Mark (1876–1948) designed Lee High School with William B. Ittner of St. Louis in 1926–27. Both architects also designed the similarly designed Andrew Jackson High School.
The school was dedicated to confederate general Robert E. Lee on his birthday, January 19, 1928. Jacksonville's three newly constructed high schools—Lee High, Andrew Jackson High, and Julia E. Landon High (named for a South Jacksonville teacher)—spread out students from the city's original whites-only high school, Duval High School (c. 1873–1927). Black students at the time attended Stanton High School, which moved to a new facility in 1953.
The main structure is notable for its beige bricks and top floor off-white stucco. It is framed by four gabled transepts, which in turn are framed by ground-to-roof stacks of alternating small and large cornerstones. The top floor stucco of the four transepts feature a coat of arms, in which a central figure reaches for a star on the left, while a tree occupies the right side. Also unique are the two front arch doorways, which sport an impressive amount of "radiating" stonework.
The main building has an auditorium and a large courtyard. A field house was added between the stadium and the back of the school in the 1940s. Later, a first floor addition on the original structure's right side accommodated a meeting room, a cafeteria expansion, and the boys' locker room. The basketball gym was built to the right of the school, and the shop and music buildings were located behind the original building to the left at end of Donald Street.
Around 1964, the school board converted Landon High School to a junior high school. This made Lee and Jackson the two oldest Jacksonville high schools operating at their original sites.
In 1965, a group of Lee students formed the band My Backyard. The band, led by singer Ronnie Van Zant, was renamed Lynyrd Skynyrd after coach Leonard Skinner sent guitarist Gary Rossington to the principal's office for wearing his hair long.
Lee underwent two desegregation cycles, with faculty integrated from 1968–71, then students in the 1971–72 school year.
In the early 1980s, the school constructed an outdoor pool between the gym and the original building. Before that time, the swim teams trained at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd Pool, located about a mile north. Lee Pool is used by the athletic teams and physical education classes during the school year. In the summer, it becomes a free public pool operated by the City of Jacksonville Parks & Recreation Department.
On November 24, 1986, Lee was ravaged by a fire that destroyed the library and many classrooms. The fire damage was estimated at $4.5 million. After the fire, the Robert E. Lee High School Restoration Committee was formed by Lee alumni to help raise money for restoration.
The cafeteria and the library were expanded during the restoration. In 1991, a new two-floor classroom building was built behind the original structure to accommodate the addition of Ninth Grade. Lee had been a three-year high school since its opening in 1927. Part of the old shop building was torn down to make way for the new two-floor building. The field house was also expanded in 1991.