Jefferson High School

Thomas Jefferson High School is a public high school located in the heart of the Westshore Business District of Tampa, Florida, United States. In 1939, due to the increasing high school population in the Tampa area, Thomas Jefferson High School was founded in the Old Hillsborough County High School building at 2704 N. Highland Avenue in the citys Tampa Heights neighborhood. Named after the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, its first principal was D.W. Waters and its first class graduated in 1942. By 1967, the school board decided that its location no longer met modern educational requirements and the first Jefferson High School was closed. The original Thomas Jefferson High School building still exists today as the D.W. Waters Career Center. On August 27, 1973 the new Jefferson High School building was opened at its current location on West Cypress Street