The school opened in 1906. There have since been several improvements to grounds and buildings, expansions, and classroom additions. However, as of 2017 the school still has asbestos tiling and pipe insulation throughout the building, as well as numerous architectural faults. In 1971, the original grandstands, made completely of wood, burned to the ground in less than 30 minutes and 10 students injured and 1 killed. The disaster made worse, because the alarms stopped working after lunch. Starting in 2017 the gresham Barlow school district and voters of gresham passed a bond to replace most parts of the school as of the 2019-2020 school yearthe new learning tower has since been opened along with construction underway for other parts of the school
The Theatre Arts Department offers students opportunities ranging from acting inmain stage productions, including a full length musical, to directing or working as crew members backstage. Students work with theatre professionals throughout the Portland area, including a residency with Portland Center Stage, and working with influential organist Martin Ellis. The choir program consists of Encore Choir, Gresham Men's Choir, Treble Choir, Concert Choir, and Overtones. For five years in a row, the Gresham High School Concert Choir placed in the top five in the OSAA State Choir Competition. The Gresham High School Band program consists of Jazz Band, Concert Band, Symphonic Band, Wind Symphony, Pep Band, and Pit Orchestra. The first Gresham High School Band was in 1926. Although the Gresham Barlow School District cut millions of dollars from the budget for the 2009/2010 school year, the band and choir programs were able to continue at Gresham High School because of peaceful student protests through song.
Publications
Gresham High School produces two newspapers: The Gresham Argus and The Gopher Gazette. They are produced by separate staffs and are budgeted by their own advertising efforts. The newspapers have different audiences as well; the Gresham Argus is delivered to students in class, and the Gopher Gazette is distributed via postal mail to parents of students and businesses in the community. The Gopher Gazette recently lost funding and had to switch to an online format.
