However, the cost of removing asbestos and lead-based paint from the building, nearly ten million dollars, led to buyer after buyer losing interest over the next decade. The school board put the building up for sale in 1995. In 1990, the building was closed to the public and sat empty. Over the next twenty years, Old Waco High was used to house an alternative school, a special education department, a museum called the Metropolitan Learning Center, and a pregnancy resource center. Some thought it best to simply sell it to the highest bidder. For instance, many wanted the building to be used for special education and neighborhood recreation programs.

Citizens of Waco offered many suggestions for ways to repurpose Old Waco High. In 1971, a new structure was built to house Waco High School on North Nineteenth Street. The school board mandated incremental integration beginning with teachers and then students, but only achieved the minimum requirements to meet federal standards. Prior to integration, African American students attended Jefferson Moore High School. The racial makeup of Waco High began to change in the 1960s when the Waco Independent School District began implementing racial integration. In 1922, the Waco High Tigers defeated the Abilene Eagles, becoming the Texas State Football Champions. The athletic program was also successful early on. At their graduation ceremony, the keynote speaker invited them to draw upon the efficiency, industry, and preparedness they had been taught at Waco High, for these “were the qualities by which they would eventually triumph” in life. In 1915, all 110 seniors passed their classes and graduated.

The school quickly became notable in the community. The high school was built in 1910, and sits in downtown Waco on Columbus Avenue in close proximity to the courthouse and the ALICO building. Initially the school met in two small buildings in downtown Waco during the 1880s, and for many years was the only public school west of the Brazos. Old Waco High School is the oldest of several extant buildings to have housed Waco High School.

Wacoisd firstclass