The school is part of the Anne Arundel County Public School system, and is the primary high school for Gambrills and portions of the Odenton and Crofton areas. Originally, the school was the Anne Arundel Academy, a prestigious one-room private school founded in 1854. That institution became Arundel High School in 1926.It is one of the oldest public high schools in the country, and the oldest mainstream public school in the state of Maryland. The current school building was built in 1949 and first occupied in 1950, with additions in 1966, 1985, and 2008. Due to high scores in academics, and their good athletics (most notably the football team), Arundel High School has a great reputation in the state of Maryland, and is known as one of the best high schools in Anne Arundel County and the state of Maryland. In 2013, Arundel was ranked as one of the top 20 high schools in Maryland and one of the top 1,000 in the Country by Newsweek. Arundel High School's rival school is South River High School.
Arundel High School was originally founded in 1854 as "Anne Arundel Academy," a one room private school which was located in Millersville, on the site of the old Millersville Elementary School. Students had to pass rigorous entrance exams in order to be eligible to attend. Its aim was "To create a love for labor honesty, and a high moral life." The founder and first principal was Phil Moore Leakin, whom there is a legend about. When Leakin was a teacher, he looked outside a window and foreshadowed a school that would surpass the capabilities of the tiny one room building Anne Arundel Academy was housed in.
The academy drastically changed during the Civil War era. Attendance and funding for the Academy began to drop, and Principal Leakin resigned. As a result, several new teachers and principals came and left, until Leakin returned to his position in 1873. During this time period, the school purchased an additional 10 acres of land, and added more buildings to serve as dormitories. A fire also damaged the main building during this time period, causing changes in the schools growth. This sparked community leaders to donate money for an annex to be built, a nearby farm was also purchased, and the boys and girls dormitories housed students who secure scholarships. 10 years later, Principal Leakin died.
In the beginning of the 1900s, the school expanded its property to more than 70 acres. New buildings were also purchased and renovated, and the school added football and baseball fields, a track, tennis court, and other athletic facilities. Later throughout this period of time, another war broke out, and as a result, the school lost funding. Fires destroyed classrooms, and administrators had to raise tuition in order to rebuild and renovate the damaged facilities. As an alternative to raising tuition, the school was adopted by the Board of Education of Anne Arundel County in 1922, whom became responsible for providing tuition for students. Since the school became under control of the county, it became eligible for government aid. The Board purchased land for a new high school institution for the Academy, and by 1925, the Academy was converted to public Arundel High School, and graduated its first class as a public school.
Anne Arundel Academy officially became a public school in the 1924-1925 school year. The students voted on the new school name to be "Arundel High School." It gathered students from Millersville, Annapolis, Gambrills, Crownsville, Odenton, and other surrounding areas. (Crofton was not a town until 1967.) The first principal of Arundel High School as a public school was Sidney H. Fadely, who was the principal during Arundel's "glory years," (the first four years of Arundel being a public school). Arundel began many clubs including a Drama Club, a Glee Club (singing/choir), Home Economics, and Debate. Arundel also started a newspaper club and was getting ready to publish its first newspaper which was called The Arundel Tattler at the time.
Arundel, like many other American high schools, went through some hardships shortly after the 1929 Stock Market Crash. Many activities were discontinued county and statewide, and gas rationing during this period of time caused the county and statewide competitions to be canceled. As an alternative, the school began competitions between classes in the school. The school also began a "pre-induction" course for future members of the military. The school also began a new physical fitness program, which was connected with victory activities. Members of vocational agricultural activities planted victory gardens in order to "supplement the needs of the cafeteria." Despite hardships during the depression, three Arundel students received first place awards in the State Traffic Slogan Contest, the 4-H Rural Electrification County Contest, and the Victory Leadership State Contest.
When the war was nearing an end, Arundel brought back many of the activities that the school had prior to the depression and war along with some new activities as well. All the school's sports such as volleyball, soccer, baseball, and field ball continued, and students created ping-pong and basketball teams during this time. The school also hosted several dances for Holidays such as Halloween, or dances with certain themes such as "Hillbilly" and "Cowboy" dances and the formal Senior Prom. The Home Economics program and Future Farmers Association were the schools most active clubs at the time, and a lot of the members were winners of local, state, and national fairs and 4-H competitions. Arundel also began offering a drivers educational course in 1948. During this time, the Arundel High School community was preparing to move to a newly built and larger facility in Gambrills, and would open its doors in 1949.
As the forties ended and the fifties began, Arundel High School students and staff moved into their newly built facility in Gambrills. The new building had three floors (including a basement), several modern classrooms, and an auditorium. (This structure is just one of the wings of the schools current facility and is now known as "F-Hall.") Mrs. Mabel H. Parker was the first principal of the school after moving into its new structure. At the time, the school was located in a very rural small town surrounded by Annapolis, the Chesapeake Bay, and its tributaries. This caused the school to have a strong importance in agriculture, and the largest club was the Future Farmers of America. The school also owned its own livestock. However, the school was preparing to get used to a more suburban setting as the suburbs of Annapolis began to grow outward, and as a result, Principal Parker adjusted the curriculum, which slowly eliminated the agricultural courses as time went on. In the late 1950s, Arundel was beginning to experience overcrowding due to the large suburban developments in the area, and as a result, Anne Arundel County Public Schools opened nearby Severna Park High School in 1959 to split the population of Arundel and ease overcrowding. In the 1960s, Arundel chose their mascot as the "Wildcats." Also during this period of time, the lower grades were relocated the newly built "Arundel Junior High" (now known as "Arundel Middle School") and only grades 10-12 were held at Arundel High School. From 1964-1965, the schools 10th grades were temporarily housed at Arundel Junior High. In 1966, a large new addition was added to the school, and the 10th graders returned to the high school, and five 9th grade classes were also held at the high school.
