The Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District and specifically Grapevine High School are steeped in tradition. And like the city it is named for, GHS has a rich historical background.

The first school house, traced back to July of 1846, was a log cabin located a short distance north of the center of present day Grapevine. Classes were taught by the Reverend John A. Freeman.

The Reverend Charles N. Pierce from Red River County opened a private school in 1856. His school was called Grapevine Academy. There were also many church sponsored schools in the area at this time. By January, 1872, Mr. J. DeGress became Superintendent of Public School for a term of six months.

In 1868, the Grapevine Masonic Lodge appointed a committee to solicit subscriptions among brethren to build a Masonic Hall and school house. E.N. Hudgins donated five acres of land about one quarter of a mile southeast of the business part of the village of Grapevine for the building and campus. The pine lumber was hauled from the pine mills of East Texas, a distance of 150 miles with ox-teams. The framing timbers were felled, hewn and prepared in the oak forest near Grapevine.

Building commenced by the first of September in 1869. The building was a house of 16' x 50' in size and was two stories high. A school was then organized, known as the Grapevine Masonic Institute, and a board of trustees was elected by the lodge. School opened the first Monday in September 1869, with Colonel W.P. Bishop as the principal.

The curriculum of the school during the tenure of W.P. Bishop consisted of: higher arithmetic, spelling, United States history, natural philosophy, physiology and the laws of health, algebra, Latin, chemistry, logic and others.

The Grapevine Masonic Institute remained open until 1886 when Zeb Jenkins and J.E.M. Yates were appointed to sell the school and lodge buildings. The institute is a remarkable example of Masonic schools in Texas. Here the Lodge erected the school building entirely by its own efforts. The Lodge governed the school through a board of trustees who were responsible for all exercises of general powers in operating the school. The Lodge possessed final power in all school matters. The school existed successfully from 1869 to 1886.

Grapevine College was opened and operated by Professor J.S. Brown in 1887, in the buildings he had purchased from the Grapevine Masonic Lodge. He made the lodge building into a residence and dormitory where the students might live. In addition to the students from the area, there were about 20 to 35 students from other areas that lived in the dormitory while attending the college.

In 1900, Professor Brown sold the college to Professor G.T. Bludworth, who continued to operate it as a private school until 1906, when the school building was bought by the public school system.

The two story red brick school, located on what we now know as Austin Street, was built in 1908. The upper story had two big classrooms, two smaller classrooms and the auditorium which was also used as a study hall. There was no indoor plumbing, but there were some hydrants on the school grounds.

There were no organized or supervised play periods. The boys played ball, marbles, pitched horse shoes or enjoyed a game called "mumbletypeg". The girls played "pop the whip", jacks, hiding-seek and basketball.

When students completed grammar school and moved on to high school subjects, they studied the prescribed areas of Math, History ( Ancient, Medieval, Modern, U.S., and Texas), English (Sisks Grammar, English and American Literature), four years of Latin, Caesar's Gallic Wars, Cicero and Virgil.

The first graduation class in this school was held in May, 1912, and consisted of one student. In 1913, there were four graduates; 1914, there were 14 graduates; and in 1915, there were ten graduates.

The first annual of the school was printed in 1916. Contrary to the popular belief that the Mustang horse was named and used as a symbol of the annual, Joe Parsons, Editor-in-chief of the annual, named it for the vast quantities of beautiful Mustang Grapes that hung in great clusters on the prairies and woodlands of this area. This idea worked well because it also tied into the name of Grapevine. Over the years, the name has remained the same, but the symbol is different.