Springing from the roots of Dallas High School, North Gaston High School opened in the fall of 1971.  Located in the historic Town of Dallas, North Gaston High was a result of the consolidation of Gaston, Cherryville City and Gastonia City schools.  Serving students in the northern part of Gaston County, North Gaston offers a comprehensive high school educational program including strong academics, arts, athletics, and workforce preparation programs.

In the year 1878, Marcus Lafayette Little organized the first academy/college in Dallas, North Carolina.  Located in the 200 block of what is now South College Street, the academy served students in the Dallas area until the college portion closed in the spring of 1905.  In 1918, a new school was built west of Dallas to hold the Dallas school.  This location served all grades until 1926 when a new building was built for the high school, grades eight through eleven, and the elementary grades moved into a new school west of Pine Street in 1957.  This school in now known as Carr Elementary School, named in honor of Mr. Mitchell Carr, who served as principal at Dallas from 1930-1964.  In the fall of 1968, Mr. John McClure became the principal of Dallas High School.  Mr. McClure is credited with helping the community work through the county consolidation of schools.  Dallas High School was closed on June 8th, 1971.  Its successor, North Gaston High School, opened in August, 1971.

Located on part of a 100 acre tract of land, North Gaston High School is located at the intersection of Ratchford and Philadelphia Church Roads, one mile north of the Dallas Town limits.  Opening at a cost of 2 ½ million dollars, North Gaston’s campus consisted of one building housing all classrooms, the cafeteria, gymnasium and auditorium.  Athletic facilities consisted of a gymnasium complete with dressing rooms, classrooms, training rooms and a basketball court.  In addition to this, athletic facilities included a baseball field, practice fields, and a site for a football stadium.  Throughout the history of North Gaston many additions have been made to the school facilities including significant upgrades to the football and baseball facilities, new  tennis courts, new auxiliary gymnasium and an academic building housing eleven classrooms.

Upon opening, the school mascot was changed from the Dallas Yellow Jackets to the North Gaston Wildcats, with school colors of black and gold retained.  Due to state-wide athletic redistricting, a third color, cardinal was added in 1977.  Black, gold and cardinal remained the school colors until 2002, when again through state-wide athletic redistricting; cardinal was dropped in favor of the original school colors of black and gold.

From its opening in 1971, North Gaston High School has built a reputation as a great school.  Building upon its rich history, North Gaston’s future holds much promise for the schools students, staff and community.