1940s

Click to view a slideshow of the construction of THS in 1938-40

It was built with sixteen inch solid brick walls set on a concrete footing.  The exterior was covered with face brick and Indiana limestone.  The classroom doors were made of walnut with brass hardware. The lobby walls are covered with brown marble. A mural in the lobby depicts the path of education from the beginning of history to the present. The library at the west end of the second floor was built to accommodate 12,000 volumes.  The auditorium was built to seat 1010 people and included a house and stage lighting system. Though the auditorium walls were originally paneled in walnut, they were later replaced with beige ceramic tile due to moisture damage to the wood. The tower rising above the main building contains air ducts on the fourth floor and a water tank on the fifth floor. The tank was used to provide emergency water pressure and as part of the heating system. A separate structure on the circle side of the school contained the boiler room. A gym, with dressing rooms on opposite ends for boys and girls, was built at the rear of the main building.  The capacity of the new school was listed at 1100 to 1300 students. 

Organizations at the school in that day included band, THS Thespians, THS Drill Squad, Le Cercle Francais, 4-H club, The Actors of Tomorrow, Biology Club, THS Literary Club, Etti Ketters (girl’s etiquette club) and the Boys’ Etiquette Club, Future Farmers of America Creed, Declamation and Debating Club, Music Club, the Commercial Club, Library Club, Boys Athletic Club, Girls Athletic Club, and the Better Citizens Club.

The 1940 yearbook got a new name. After being called the Mirror for two years (1938, 1939), a yearbook naming contest was held. The winner, sophomore Earnest Bonvillain, suggested the name Trawler. After producing hardcover yearbooks for two years (1940, 1941), the yearbook was reduced in size and had a paper cover in 1942 due to the paper shortage during the war. It was further reduced in size in 1943, when the booklet was called the Pirogue. Though there was no yearbook produced in 1944, 1945, and 1946, publication resumed in 1947 and has occurred uninterrupted every year since. The Trawler staff met in the tower room on the third floor at that time.

Earnest Bonvillain, 1942

A common hangout for students was the a grocery story owned by Weldon Dupre’s family located in front of the school.

In the 1940s, several classes donated cement benches that were placed on the school grounds.

The Alma Mater

It was the class of 1943 that resurrected the Alma Mater. The original song can be found in the 1913 yearbook, which shows that the song actually had two verses and a chorus (lyrics; listen ) . The tune, however, had been forgotten by that time. Music teacher Hal. M. Gilder worked with THS graduate J. Louis Watkins (who recalled the original tune) to reconstruct the melody.

The effects of World War II were felt at THS.  Students did what they could to help.  Activities included a growing a victory garden, collecting scrap metal, knitting afghans, making utility bags and slippers for soldiers, and gathering supplies such as silk stockings.

In 1945, Coach Tom Smith started an intramural sports program.  Coach Smith had begun his tenure at the school in 1933.  The stadium built in the mid-1950s is named in his honor.

1950s

In the 1950s, it was common to have Beauty Courts.  Photos of the court were sent to a famous person who would pick a winner.  Some of the judges included Bing Crosby and Horace Heidt.

In 1953, the Quarterback Club and the school board helped to start work on a stadium.  It was designed by the same architects that had designed the school.  It was completed during the 1954-55 school year.  The concrete bleachers contained about 6,000 fiberglass seats.  Beneath the bleachers on the east (visitors) side were classrooms for vocal music and band.  The rooms beneath the west (home) side were designed for athletics and boys P.E.

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Houma Junior High was built south of the stadium in 1953.

1960s

By 1960 Spanish and remedial programs in reading had been added to the curriculum.

With the construction of South Terrebonne High School in Bourg in 1961, THS was no longer the only public high school in the parish.  The new high school took in most of the students on the east side of the Intercoastal Canal.

In 1962 a major renovation program added a new air-conditioned cafeteria.  It expanded the area originally used for home economics.  The home economics classes were moved to the original cafeteria space.    The guidance department was moved to the second floor, across the hall from the administrative offices.  The offices and teachers’ lounge were air conditioned.  Lighting in the auditorium and at the football stadium were modernized.   Refrigerated water fountains were installed in the main building. Covered walkways were built in the bus loading area for shelter during bad weather.

Principal Sevin

The following year, two new science labs were added. The present rooms 101 and 102 science labs were formally the shop class. The roof on the main building was replaced.  Covered walkways to both sides of the stadium were built. The baseball field was also equipped with lights in 1963. The football field recieved a new scoreboard. THe gym floor was refinished at this time. In 1967 the Cooperative Office Education work-study program began. In 1968 Warren G. Sevin became principal of Terrebonne High.   There were 83 different courses offered at THS at that time.

In 1969-1970, Terrebonne High School was integrated with a portion of the student population of the Southdown High School – an all-black school. For that year, Terrebonne High School and Houma Junior High School became one school with a single principal and two assistant principals at each building.  The schools separated the following year as Terrebonne High School Junior Division (grades nine and ten) and Terrebonne High School Senior Division (grades 11 and 12).

Additional renovations took place in 1971-72.  They included replastering, new tile floors in most classrooms, and new venetian blinds.  The following year a new baseball field was built behind Southdown School for THS athletics.  The seats in the auditorium were refinished that year as well.

As the parish population grew, so did the student population.  The largest graduating class was 1972 with 572 seniors.  A new school was built in Gray to handled students in the northern portion of the parish.  Classes began at H. L. Bourgeois High School on December 3, 1973.

In 1973, a new baseball field was built behind Southdown School. The auditorium seats were also refinished that year.