Wheelus ES (encompassing ES #1, #2, and #3) History
Opened: 1950
Closed: 1970
Wheelus Dependents’ School was founded at Wheelus Air Force Base, Tripoli, Libya, in 1950. The original school building had only seven rooms. These rooms served as classrooms for 110 students. These students had previously attended the British Army School in Tripoli. The faculty consisted of several NCO’s and Officer’s wives as well as teachers who were recruited from the United States. At one time, the school became so overcrowded and the lack of teachers was so acute that a two-shift program was initiated. There was a three-hour shift in the morning for half of the students and another in the afternoon for the remainder of the students. A new school was completed after the year of double shifts. This building along with the original building and a temporary building was able to accommodate all the students.
For the 1957-58 school year, another new building was added to the school plant which now consisted of three buildings on one side of the base and three more on the other side of the base. On the east side of the base, approximately three miles from the junior and senior high school, there are three new buildings occupied by the elementary school children. Two new wings on the elementary school were completed, making room for the ever-increasing number of elementary children. One elementary building had its own cafeteria, while the others had lunch at one of the Clubs within walking distance of the complex. The three separate elementary buildings were locally referred to as Elementary #1, #2, and #3 but were actually under one administration and formed Wheelus Elementary School.
The school was closed at the end of the 1969-70 school year.
Information from school yearbooks