Northrop High School

1971 – present

Founded: Northrop opened in 1971 at 7001 Coldwater Road, the north-side half of the settlement that ended Central High School. Facing pressure to end de facto segregation in the city high schools, the board closed Central, redrew the district lines, began busing, and opened two new high schools at once: Northrop on the north side and Wayne on the south, identical buildings raised together. Allen County summaries date the dedication of both schools to the spring of 1972; the district's own history carries the 1971 opening, and both dates stand in the record.

Namesake: The school honors Milton H. Northrop, the first principal of North Side High School, who served from 1927 to 1953 after eleven years heading the business department at Central. His career in education ran thirty-seven years, beginning at Kendallville; students knew him as Pop, or Dad, and he pressed them toward good citizenship and conscientious scholarship. A commercial claim that the school was named for a John Northrop is not supported by the district's account and is not carried here.

The building: The original plant's gymnasiums date to 1969-71. Between March 2018 and August 2020 the school was comprehensively renovated in nine phases by Michael Kinder and Sons, more than 300,000 square feet of work: new mechanical, plumbing and electrical systems, an office addition with a secure entry, an auxiliary gym, renewed science, art, band, choir and dance rooms, the auditorium, media center and main gym, and work at Spuller Stadium, where Snider's football team also plays its home games. The campus covers 77 acres.

Growth: By October 1979 the school newspaper counted about 2,400 students and five lunch periods, and quoted an assistant principal calling Northrop the biggest school in northeastern Indiana. It remains the largest Fort Wayne Community Schools high school: the National Center for Education Statistics counted 2,145 students in 2024-25. Shawnee and Jefferson middle schools feed it.

Programs: Northrop's program of study is Project Lead The Way Engineering, covering engineering, biomechanics and aeronautics. It offers four years each of French, German and Spanish, Advanced Placement and dual-credit courses with Purdue Fort Wayne, and a two-year Teaching Academy for future teachers. Its marching band, show choir and speech team are award-winning, and since 1994 the school has kept a sister-school tie with the Goethe Gymnasium in Gera, Germany, Fort Wayne's sister city.

Athletics: The Bruins, in burnt orange, brown and teal, play in the Summit Athletic Conference, and the IHSAA credits Northrop with sixteen state championships. Ten belong to the girls track and field team (1981, 1991, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2011 and 2013). The 1974 boys basketball team finished 28-1 and beat Jeffersonville 59-56 in the state final behind Walter Jordan; the 1986 girls basketball team finished 29-0 under coach Dave Riley, a state record for wins without a loss at the time. The rest of the sixteen: baseball 1983, boys golf 1984, and boys track and field 1997 and 2004.

Today: Northrop is a Fort Wayne Community Schools high school for grades nine through twelve on the city's north side. Its principal is Robb Robison.

Sources:

1. Fort Wayne Community Schools, Northrop High School, Our History: the 1971 opening, the Coldwater Road address, the namesake, feeders and programs.
2. News-Sentinel, Era of Crises, 1970 to 1979: the Central closure, busing and the twin openings.
3. Allen County INGenWeb, High Schools in Allen County: the spring 1972 dedications and the identical buildings.
4. Michael Kinder and Sons and Barton Coe Vilamaa: the 2018-2020 renovation scope.
5. Northrop Whats Bruin, 19 October 1979: the 2,400 students and the 77-acre campus.
6. Indiana High School Athletic Association: the sixteen state championships and the girls track record book.
7. National Center for Education Statistics: 2,145 students, 2024-25.