Frederick Sasscer High School, also known as Frederick Sasscer Junior/Senior High School (FSHS), was a mid-20th century secondary school located at 14201 School Lane, Upper Marlboro, Prince George's County, Maryland, United States of America. FSHS's historical importance and its character lie in its centuries-old roots in the Town of Upper Marlboro, Maryland.Hales, Stephen, "Frederick Sasscer High School: A three century longitudinal report on the impact of socio-cultural-historical factors on an American high school", SSRN. Accessed: 8 July 2025.

The early days: Colonial times - 1948

Early schools The economic mix of the population around Upper Marlboro gave rise to a range of different educational arrangements: church schools, local schools organized by towns or groups of parents (including private academies), tuition schools organized by "traveling schoolmasters", charity schools for the poor, boarding schools for the rich, "dame schools" run by women in their homes, and private tutoring and home schooling."History and evolution of public education in the US", Center on Education Policy, Graduate School of Education & Human Development, the George Washington University, https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED606970.pdf, Accessed: 29 May 2025, 1."State Department of Education: Origin", Maryland Manual On-Line: A Guide to Maryland & Its Government, July 2023, https://msa.maryland.gov/, Accessed: 28 May 2025.

In Upper Marlboro, the privately funded Upper Marlborough Academy (a/k/a Upper Marlboro Academy, Marlboro Academy) was established in 1835.The Alumni of Upper Marlboro High School, 1999, "Marlboro Academy", marker, https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=3823, Accessed: 4 Apr 2025. The school consisted of two rooms--one serving as the school room and one as a bedroom for the teacher. At the beginning, the school was restricted to boys with girls allowed to attend by 1840. In 1844, 42 boys and 18 girls attended. In 1867, a girls' building was added.Pearl, Susan, "A brief history of the Marlboro High School/Elementary School", News & Notes – A publication of the Prince George's County Historical Society, XLI Number 1 (January & February 2012), 1,3. As early as 1839, subjects ("branches") taught were: "Latin and Greek languages; Greek and Roman antiquities; Elements of General History; Natural Philosophy and Chemistry; Rhetoric, Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, and Trigonometry; Mensuration (measuring), Navigation, and Surveying; [as well as] all the lower branches of English education".Norris, John E. (Principal), "Upper Marlboro Academy", Daily National Intelligencer and Washington Express, 18 May 1839, 3.

In 1840, by act of the Maryland legislature, the academy became publicly funded.Magruder, Caleb Clarke, second, "Address at the dedication of the high school erected upon the site of Upper Marlboro Academy, May 19, 1921", https://www.tumhc.com/uploads/1/7/4/4/17446659/address_of_caleb_magruder_1924_dedication_of_hs.pdf, Accessed: 29 May 2025, 4. In 1908, the Marlboro Academy building was transferred to the Board of County School Commissioners, and the private academy became a public high school. A new high school building would be constructed at the location some 12+ years later.Pearl, 3.

The move toward common schools Maryland was a relative latecomer to a central system of public education. After several failed attempts, in 1865, Maryland moved from local schools to a highly centralized, compulsory school system consisting of "free primary schools, grammar schools, one high school per county, a normal school, and a university, as well as separate schools for Negroes, the blind, deaf, handicapped, and the imprisoned". Funding sources were different for white and black schools, with funding for the latter to be derived from taxes paid by blacks. Public funding for private academies continued only until public high schools could be established."State Department of Education: Origin".

Frederick Sasscer Jr., who was Superintendent of Schools for Prince George's County from 1902 until 1914, commented in 1920 about the new Marlboro High School (a/k/a Upper Marlborough High School) being built on the site of the Marlboro Academy: "May the new High School building soon to be erected embody in its conveniences all the comforts of the new age, and may the children of the present generation and of generations to come find keen delight and rich enlightenment within its walls!"Pearl, 3. On March 12, 1921, the new Marlboro High School, built on the site of the former Marlboro Academy, was reported as completed."New high school ready", The Washington Herald, 13 Mar 1921, 5. On May 19, 1921, the new school was dedicated.Magruder, 4."Dedication exercises", The Prince George's Enquirer and Southern Maryland Advertiser, 6 May 1921.

The Marlboro High School, and the Marlboro Academy before it, laid the educational foundation for the FSHS, which would be built several decades later.Pearl, 3. After that, the Marlboro High School building was used as a primary school, known as Marlboro Elementary School, until 1974.Pearl, 3."Old Marlboro High School (79-019-52)", Illustrated Inventory of Historic Sites and Districts, Prince George's County, Maryland (Upper Marlboro: The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, April 2011), 165.

Frederick Sasscer High School (1948 – early 1970s)

Site FSHS was built west-southwest of Upper Marlboro's CBD just within the current town limits, The property "was purchased for the new Marlboro High School in 1945".Berger, H., and Stabler, J. (letter) to Osei, Christine, 3 Feb 2017, https://www.pgatlas.com/Documents/DAMS/SR_MR-1625F_1.pdf, (Accessed: 2 Jun 2025). FSHS was constructed on this land in 1947 and opened in 1948 to address overcrowding at Marlboro High School, with the dedication occurring on June 16, 1949.Jones, Mary, and Marshall, Helen, "School of the week: Courses are varied at Sasscer High", Evening Star, 30 Nov 1958, 186. The school was named after the previously noted school superintendent Frederick Sasscer Jr..Van Erem, Saleh."Old Marlboro High School (79-019-52)", 165.Pearl, 3.Meyer, Eugene L., "Remembering a world a half-century away", The Washington Post, 18 Jan 2000. Sasscer also served as principal of the predecessor Marlboro Academy, was a lawyer, and served as editor of the Prince George's Enquirer and its successor Enquirer Gazette,"Frederick Sasscer", Prince George's County Hall of Fame, Prince George's County Historical Society, https://web.archive.org/web/20150205064851/http://www.pghistory.org/HallofFame/#17, Accessed: 28 May 2025. which still exists today. The Sasscers were prominent nineteenth-century landowners in Upper Marlboro. Their roots in the town can be traced to the 1760s.Valentine, Daniel, "Former delegate was witness to county's transformation", Prince George's Gazette, 11 Jun 2009.

Building It was 1944, nearing the end of World War II, and Prince George's County officials were already thinking about the need for new schools to accommodate pent-up demand and, perhaps, anticipating the coming "baby boom". A school construction program was to be launched "as soon as materials are available" to deal with the many "overcrowded and 'antiquated" schools in the county. One of these planned projects was a "new junior-senior high school at Upper Marlboro to accommodate about 350 pupils.""$1,200,000 school program proposed in Prince Georges: Postwar construction plans are submitted to commissioners", Evening Star, 13 Dec 1944, 26. In Upper Marlboro, that project would materialize as Frederick Sasscer High School.

By mid-1946, an artist's conception of the proposed "New Marlboro High School" or "Marlboro Junior and Senior High School" had been approved. The new school was to "include 10 classrooms, an auditorium, gymnasium, cafeteria and library" for an approximate cost of $500,000."New Marlboro High School", photo, Evening Star, 1 Jul 1946, 22. The school's plans were delayed by the Civilian Production Administration, an American federal agency created in 1945 to oversee the transition from the wartime to peacetime economy, "because of a lack of building materials".Truman, Harry S., "Executive Order 9638 – Creating the Civilian Production Administration and Terminating the War Production Board", 4 Oct 1945, cited in The American Presidency Project (Santa Barbara: UC Santa Barbara, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-9638-creating-the-civilian-production-administration-and-terminating-the#:~:text=1.,agencies%20as%20he%20shall%20determine. Accessed 12 Jun 2025."New Marlboro High School", caption, Evening Star, 1 Jul 1946, 22.

A $2.2-million bond issue was requested on June 11, 1947, to fund construction of the now-named Frederick Sasscer High School and other new schools in the county."Prince Georges schools request $2,200,000 loan", Evening Star, 11 Jun 1947, 22. On July 9, 1947, the opening date for receipt bids for FSHS was set for August 12, 1947. By that time, the planned number of classrooms had been increased from 10 to 14, along with an auditorium, gymnasium, and cafeteria, and the school was to be constructed of brick and concrete block."Opening date for receiving bids announced", Evening Star, 9 Jul 1947, 19. Notice was given that bids would be opened on August 26, 1947."Proposals: Invitation to bid", Evening Star, 12 Aug 1947, 39. The bids, as received, were "considerably higher than expected", with the school superintendent suggesting that the cost should be some $100,000 less. On September 24, 1947, the FSHS construction contract was awarded to Irons & Reynolds for $976,747."Sasscer High School contact is awarded", Evening Star, 24 Sep 1947, 23. Announcement was made that FSHS would be completed on or about December 1, 1948."New Marlboro school", Evening Star, 12 Sep 1948, 74.

"Marlboro's $1,000,000 Frederick Sasscer high school" was dedicated in ceremonies on June 16, 1949. The principal speaker was United States Representative Lansdale Sasscer of Maryland, who was the son of Frederick Sasscer Jr., for whom FSHS was named."Dedication today at Sasscer High", Times Herald, 16 Jun 1949, 21. Sasscer noted that "completion of the new school was a perfect example of the 'booster' spirit needed in every community". A total pupil enrollment of 530 was expected by September 1949, with service to students of "Upper Marlboro, Croom, Forestville and intermediate areas". As completed, FSHS had 19 classrooms, up from 10 in early planning and from 14 in later plans. The auditorium, gymnasium, library, and cafeteria were also built as planned. With the opening of FSHS, the old Marlboro High School was to be converted into an elementary school."Sasscer helps to dedicate new school", The Washington Post, 17 Jun 1949, 23.

In its early years, FSHS was one of only two schools in the county that had an auditorium and a gymnasium. The auditorium, which had a stage with public address system, props, dressing rooms, and "elaborate" lighting system, could seat about 500 people.Jones and Marshall, 186.