In 1989, Orme Campbell High School and F.T. Wills High School merged to form Smyrna High School. Prior to the merger, Campbell students were known as the Green and White "Panthers" and Wills students were known as the Red and Black "Tigers". The students united in selecting new colors, royal blue and silver, and a new mascot, the "Spartans".
Here is some history:
Nash Junior High School opened on Ward Street just before the start of the 1963-1964 school year. It closed as Nash Middle School in 1989. F.T. Wills High School, home of the Wills Tigers, opened next door in 1967. For the next 22 years there was a great rivalry between Wills and Campbell high schools until Wills closed in 1989 (see below). It was not uncommon for 5,000 people to attend the annual cross-town football classic every fall. As baby boomers entered their 40s and grew wealthier towards the late 1960s, construction began on Bennett Woods, Smyrna's first large, prestige neighborhood.
1989 saw the closing of Wills High School and the beginning of an interesting legal controversy and school name-changing saga. During the 1980s, high school enrollment in Smyrna shrunk to the point that the Cobb County School Board decided that two high schools were no longer needed. Wills High School was closed at the end of the 1989-1990 school year. Its student population was divided between Campbell and Osborn high schools with the majority of students assigned to Campbell. The name of Campbell High School was then changed to Smyrna High School and Campbell's mascot, the Panther, became the Spartan.
The descendants of Orme Campbell, for whom Campbell High School was named, filed suit in court after the name change. They argued before the court that one of the conditions of the original land donation upon which Campbell High School was built was that it would always be named for the family's patriarch. They won the suit and the name was restored to Campbell High School. The court's ruling did not apply to the mascot however, which remained the newly namedSpartan.
By the 1997-1998 school year, Smyrna's high school population had swelled due to an unforeseen boom in Smyrna's development. Ironically, Campbell High School was then too small for all of the students in the area. The previously closed Wills High School and adjacent Nash Middle School (also closed) were renovated, merged, reopened and renamed Campbell High School. The former Campbell High School on Atlanta Road then became Campbell Middle School. Newsweek Magazine recognized Campbell High School in 2005 for having one of the largest and most successful International Baccalaureate programs in the country.---
