 Because of construction delays , the building was not ready for classes in September 1868 , so the first classes of the high school were held at the nearby Franklin Township Hall while students in grades 1 – 8 remained at their old schoolhouses . The new building opened on March 14 , 1869 with the high school grades located in the southwest room of the second floor and the four primary grades on the first floor . The third floor of the building was an open , multi @-@ purpose room . The school held its first graduation ceremony in July 1869 with a class of just one , a student named Anna Nutting . Nutting later taught at the Union School and eventually became its principal , serving until 1888 . The Union School , which would later be known as Central School , served as the home of all Kent students until two additional elementary schools for grades 1 – 6 were constructed in the 1880s . For most of the 1910s , all of the school buildings were overcrowded and the high school graduating classes had grown to nearly 40 students . As a result , a new , separate high school building was built in 1922 . The Union / Central building remained in service mainly for grades K – 7 until 1953 , when it was closed after the completion of a new Central Elementary School on the same property . It was razed in 1954 . Because of Kent High School 's location in what became known as the Central School by the late 19th century , the school is often referred to contemporarily and historically as Kent Central High or simply as Central High . 
