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South Jordan Journal

Bingham High Ready to Celebrate 40th Anniversary of School Building

Sep 14, 2015 02:34PM ● By Bryan Scott

Bingham High School in 2015, 40 years after opening its doors in 1975, is the current building and the fifth used for Bingham High School since 1908. Photo courtesy of Julie Slama

By Julie Slama

Forty years ago, Bingham High School moved from Copperton to South Jordan. Although the school is more than 100 years old, this fall will mark the 40th anniversary of the school’s South Jordan campus and the commemoration will be held this fall.

Current and former students, staff, faculty and the community are invited to attend the event on Saturday, Sept. 12, which will kick off homecoming activities. The homecoming game will be Friday, Sept. 18 and the dance, which will conclude the week-long activities, is on Saturday, Sept. 19.

“We are trying to make the 40th anniversary celebration an activity that is inclusive of Bingham Miners of all ages and not just those who attended at the South Jordan building,” Bingham High Alumni Association president Scott Crump said. “This is an entire Bingham High School celebration and not just one for those who attended the South Jordan building during the last 40 years. So we are inviting Bingham Miners of all ages to come and celebrate with us that day.” 

Beginning at noon on Sept. 12, Miners and the community can attend an open house with club and school group reunions and receive tours of the school by current student leaders. 

Many of the clubs and groups will create tabletop displays, and some of the classes will showcase their memorabilia, said Bingham High Alumni Association member Amy Murray.

“We’ve been encouraging participation of our alumni so our present students, family and community can appreciate the school’s beginnings in this community,” she said.

At 6 p.m., a reception will be held in the library for everyone to recognize Bingham’s first 15 principals and meet Bingham’s current and former principals of the South Jordan building, including Thomas Owen, James Shurtleff, Robert D. Day, Denny Simkins Carlisle, Raymond Jenson, Jolene Jolley, Thomas Hicks and Christen Richards-Khong. Light refreshments will be provided at the reception and food vendors will be available. 

A commemorative assembly will be held in the auditorium at 7 p.m. Entertainment from past and current Bingham Miners will be performed and a historical DVD created by Crump will be shown. Plans also include singing the school song, “Bingham’s Sons and Daughters,” written by student Jack Smith in 1930, and the school hymn composed in 1953 by music teacher Lowell Hicks and English teacher Robert Knotts. Also in the works are a dance performance from the Minerettes and instrumental musical selections under the direction of Darin Graber, director of bands and percussion..

Murray said that the student body officers will present former principals a commemorative pin marking Bingham High School’s 40 years in South Jordan, which will be available with other memorabilia for sale for those in attendance.

The South Jordan campus is Bingham High’s fifth building. The school opened to 12 freshmen as a branch of Jordan High School in 1908 in Bingham City’s dance hall and opera house. Two years later, the Jordan School Board voted to make Bingham High an independent high school. Then, in 1912, with the first graduating class of five students, the school moved into what is known as the first building, which served Bingham High students for 12 years. In 1925, the student body of 200 moved its home to the Bingham Central building before moving into the Copperton building in 1931 until 1975