Agua Fria High School is a public high school in Avondale, Arizona, United States.

Operated by the Agua Fria Union High School District, it is the first school built
in the district and its only school until the establishment of Millennium High
School in 1999.

Established as Litchfield Park High School, it graduated its first class in 1932.
In 1956, the school relocated to Avondale and became Agua Fria Union High School,
named for the adjacent Agua Fria River. Agua Fria experienced continuous growth
throughout the late 20th century, brought about by economic developments in the
West Valley area and the completion of Interstate 10 and Palo Verde Nuclear
Generating Station in the West Valley.

As of 2022, Agua Fria offers 23 varsity sports and various extracurricular

activities to its 1,608 students. The school is majority Hispanic and Latino. A
one-time Blue Ribbon school, Agua Fria is ranked 4,682nd nationally and 84th in
Arizona by U.S. News and World Report.

Efforts to form a high school district in Litchfield Park began to form in the late
1920s. However, to organize, the district needed a valuation of $1,500,000 or an
average daily attendance of 200 or more, neither of which the district had. The
petition was ultimately approved by George W. P. Hunt, who saw a business prospect
in the formation of a school district, leading to the Litchfield Park High School
District.[5] Until the establishment of Litchfield Park High School, high school
students attended a makeshift high school set up in a small wooden building near
Pendergast Elementary School in Phoenix. In 1927, Tolleson Union High School was
established.[6]

In 1928, Litchfield Park High School was constructed under the Litchfield Park High
School District in Litchfield Park and dedicated to Paul W. Litchfield, the first
CEO of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and the founder of Litchfield Park. The
boundaries of Litchfield Park High School were drawn identical to the nearby
Litchfield Elementary School. Approximately forty students attended Litchfield Park
in its first year.[5] In 1941, following the attack on Pearl Harbor and the United
States' use of Luke Air Force Base in World War II, along with the formation of the
Goodyear Aircraft Corporation, Litchfield Park High School was expanded.[7] By
1944, there were 141 students at Litchfield Park. The increase in Litchfield Park's
student population necessitated a building project to handle the new students, and
in 1942, a small building with two classrooms was constructed. In December 1943,
the Bobo Construction Company was awarded a contract for $11,990 to construct an
additional wing to the school's campus, adding two new classrooms.[5]

On multiple occasions, Litchfield Park High School used bonds to fund projects. In
May 1928, voters in Litchfield Park approved a bond issue for $36,000, with $24,000
going to the high school, while the other $12,000 went to the elementary school.[7]
The Southwest Cotton Company donated $9,000 to Litchfield Park, which was used to
construct a study hall. The construction of a shared auditorium between the high
school and the elementary school caused conflict; the auditorium was eventually
turned into a gymnasium, resolving the conflict. The Litchfield Park Parent
Teachers Association (LPPTA) was formed in 1944 to aid the school in construction
projects. The LPPTA was able to use funds from a community dance to build a First
Aid room in 1945, and in 1946, the LPPTA was able to hold a carnival on the
school's patio. The carnival's success allowed the LPPTA to hold another carnival,
and helped pay for band uniforms.[5]

The city of Avondale lacked a school district until 1956. Prior to the
establishment of Agua Fria Union High School, Avondale had been paying $77,743 to
Tolleson Union, Litchfield Park, and Phoenix Technical School to provide education
to its high school students. In 1952, the Avondale Elementary School District,
Litchfield Park High School District, and the Tolleson Union High School District
met to address the issue. The Avondale and Litchfield Park districts agreed to
establish a union school district. The necessity for a high school district in
Avondale contributed to the formation of the Agua Fria Union High School District
(AFUHSD) in 1955.[8] Litchfield Park High School, now Litchfield High School,
became a part of the AFUHSD upon its formation.[9]

In 1956, Agua Fria Union High School was established in Avondale, replacing
Litchfield Park High School, and designed to accommodate 350 students.[10] The
school was constructed on 57 acres—purchased for $57,000 on Riley Drive—and cost
$500,000 to build. The initial salary for teachers was $3,507. Upon its opening,
Chauncey Coor became the superintendent of Agua Fria, eventually becoming the mayor
of Goodyear in the 1980s.[6] In November 1957, the AFUHSD held a bond election for
$137,000, designed to add an additional wing for classrooms, enlarge dressing
rooms, and add a vocational agriculture building.[11] The AFUHSD would continue to
hold bond elections; in 1961, taxpayers voted on a $260,000 bond issue to finance
the construction of twelve classrooms, physics and biology laboratories, and a
language facility,[12] and in 1962, the district proposed a 39 cent tax increase,
citing the need to withdraw tuition payments from other schools—such as the newly
constructed Dysart High School in El Mirage—in the district.[13] A $4.8 million
bond proposal in 1974 succeeded in Litchfield Park, but failed in Avondale.[14] The
measure would have added a new high school in Goodyear, to help alleviate
overcrowding issues at Agua Fria Union.[15] In 1969, plans began to form to reform
education in Litchfield Park, a city known for its agriculture. The Goodyear Tire &
Rubber Company donated $15,000, as did Educational Facilities Laboratories, to help
finance a study from Arizona State University to assess the educational output of
Litchfield Park.[16]

As the westward expansion of Phoenix continued, economic activity in the West

Valley grew. The completion of Interstate 10 in the West Valley and construction on
Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station contributed to an increase in high school
enrollment in the West Valley. In 1976, voters approved a $3,975,000 bond to
construct a new high school for freshmen and sophomores, completing the goals of
the AFUHSD's bond proposal in 1974. The proposal also included funds to remodel the
physical education rooms at Agua Fria Union.[17] By 1982, Agua Fria North—Agua Fria
Union High School's northern campus—was established as an all-freshman high school.
[18] In 1998, continued growth in the Goodyear area forced the AFUHSD to convert
Agua Fria North into a four-year high school, and in 1999, Agua Fria North reopened
as Millennium High School.[19]