Hughes Education Center is an administration building for Bismarck Public Schools that originated as a junior high school (1959-2000) and later housed South Central High School (2001-2013).
Groundbreaking for Hughes Junior High was held on June 20, 1958 with the school opening in September 1959. Robert Place Miller (namesake of today’s Miller Elementary) was the school’s first principal.
Approved in 1957 to supplement the existing junior high school, which was being housed inside the former high school, Hughes was the city’s first school built with the explicit intent of being a junior high. Upon the opening of Hughes, Bismarck’s other junior high became designated as “East Junior High” until Simle replaced it in 1962.
Hughes Junior High was erected immediately east of Hughes Field, which was dedicated in 1927. Both were named to honor local entrepreneur Edmond Hughes, who donated the land in 1925. More than one hundred citizens petitioned against the school’s location, citing five concerns, the primary of which cited Washington Street’s traffic and its steep slope. Horizon Middle School replaced Hughes in 2001, at which time the building was repurposed to house administrative offices and South Central High School.
