In 1922, mill executives seeking a new school district for fourteen textile communities on Greenville’s west side petitioned the South Carolina Legislature to create the Parker School District, intending to provide a high school with vocational and textile training and to promote the welfare of the district’s people. On February 17, 1923, Act 369 consolidated several districts into the Parker School District, named for Lewis Wardlaw Parker (1865-1916). Previously, mill community schools had carried children only through the eighth or ninth grade. Lawrence Peter Hollis (1883-1978), whose motto was “It Can Be Done,” was chosen to organize the district, and Parker District High School opened on November 25, 1923. Its first graduating class of seventeen students was honored on May 26, 1924. Soon after opening, the nation’s first high school vocational training department began there, training students in machine operations, carpentry, masonry, and other manual crafts. By 1948, enrollment had reached 1,600 students, making it the largest high school in the state. The district’s centerpiece was Parker District High School, whose first principal was Ellison M. Smith. Its new building, designed by the J.E. Sirrine Company, cost $120,000, and its cornerstone was laid on April 18, 1924. Known as “The most comprehensive high school in America,” Parker was listed among the nation’s top 100 high schools in 1955, 1957, 1960, 1966, and 1971. Major renovations in 1965 altered the original design, and the high school closed with the graduating class of 1985.