After a terrible storm ravaged Pearland in 1915 and destroyed the town's high school, Pearland teenagers spent the next 22 years traveling to Webster for classes, a long commute that sharply limited their participation in school and community life. Despite the hardships of farm life and the Depression, local residents considered it important to educate their children in Pearland, and in 1937 they approved a new school bond. Architect Henry Stubee designed the new high school, and the Morgan Bouiffle Construction Company of Houston built it. Fifty-eight students attended in fall 1937, and the first major challenge for the students and faculty was securing accreditation, which they achieved in the school's first year so that Pearland graduates could go on to college. The school quickly became a center of academics, recreation, and social life, with successful athletic teams known as the Pearland Oilers, a newspaper later called The Pipeline, a yearbook also called The Gusher, and active groups including the Boys' Travel Club, the Spanish Club, and the Choral Club. With its deep maroon and white school colors, the brick-veneer building was a typical early 20th century schoolhouse designed to endure time and weather, and it remains largely unchanged, with features including an offset central entry bay with shed dormers. A new high school was built in 1953, and the 1937 building then became part of the Pearland elementary schools.