1902 marks the birth of the ILOILO HIGH SCHOOL which was known then as Iloilo Normal School. It was thus named because, originally, it was intented to be a teacher-training institution to meet the urgent need for Filipino teachers. The school was housed in a two-story building across the street from the Provincial Capitol on the site now occupied by the hotel, Iloilo Casa Plaza. Considered eligible for enrollment were those who had completed at least elementary education in Spanish schools. About 250 were enrolled for a start and these formed five sections. The faculty group was composed of experienced American teachers headed by Mr. Lutz, as Principal, Miss Mary E. Polley, a Thomasites and noted pioneer in the Philippine education, was among the earliest faculty members.

By 1903 the school had progressed enough in athletics and literary activities to form a strong baseball team and a very active literary society: the "Philmathean".

1904 was a significant year in that, for the first time, Filipino students were sent as government pensionados to the United States.

The middle of 1906 the school moved to the present site on the land donated by Don Francisco Jalandoni Y Habana, soldier and philanthropist. The two-storey wooden school building with a wide porch along three sides of the first floor looked more like an haciendero's house amidst its very rural setting. The main gate, called the "Bola-Bola" still stands today.

1907 suffered a further decline in the number of the students. By then many were needed to teach in the interion towns, some were appointed principals and supervising teachers, others had to fill various government jobs. At the start of the school year only five reported to the advanced class. Meanwhile, industrial classes were held for intermediate graders at the Girl's Government Dormitory which had been established for out of town female students. This building now houses the office of the Division Superintendent of School. The newly inaugurated school was the only institution in Iloilo which offered secondary course. However, it could not continue being a noraml school because of lack of student prepared to take normal subjects. At the end of the school year the five students of the advanced section were graduated not as normal school graduates but as high school graduates. It was then that the name ILOILO HIGH SCHOOL came to be. The very first graduates were the given their diplomas on March 28, 1908.

Buildings of nipa and bamboo had been built near the two-storey structure, one of them, the "Ambition Hall" put up by Class 1918. Students excelled in athletics and the Forum Lopez Jaena debaters, orators and declaimers.

Beginning 1919, three courses were offered: the general, the normal and commercial. In 1924 the Normal course was discontinued, the Iloilo Normal School became an independent teacher-training secondary school and the ILOILO HIGH SCHOOL concentrated on the general course. In 1938, IHS had its first Filipino principal, Mr. Florentino Kapili, and shortly before the outbreak of World War II, the first Filipino English Supervisor, Mr. Macario B. Ruiz.

World War II razed Iloilo High School to the ground, but IHS did not die. After having made its sacrificial offering of property, student and the faculty lives to the country's cause, the IHS rose to start a new. New buildings replaced the old, new curricula met education needs. Enrollment declined when public secondary schools were established in towns and barrios, but good old Iloilo High brand of lumni-from the brave little band of American pioneers to the highly competent Filipino "Sirs" and "Ma'ams" who carried on their mission.

From IHS to all students and alumni, a challenge: HOLD HIGH ILOILO HIGH!