The History of Granby High School

Granby Street High School, now officially Granby High School, is located in Talbot Park, on the west side of Granby Street. Both the street and the school are named after John Manner, Marquis of Granby, a hero of the Seven Years War. The twenty-four acre tract on which Granby was built was donated to the City of Norfolk by Winton W. Talbot. This land is part of what was once the historic Talbot Plantation which extended northward from the Granby Street Bridge.

The school first opened in September 1939 with

 Lemuel E. Games as principal and E.L. Lamberth as assistant principal. They were faced with the task of welcoming and orienting 1200 new and confused students, who were easily accommodated in a school with a capacity of 1500. The first years brought the establishment of a school newspaper, the development of a successful football program, the broadcast of a weekly radio show and statewide recognition on a major radio station. The manager of that station noted, "Granby was chosen not because it is a good school, but because it is an unusually progressive institution, doing things in an unusually interesting manner."

In later years, Granby garnered national recognition for its wrestling program. Billy Martin, teacher and wrestling coach, won 21 state titles and was inducted into the Wrestling Hall of Fame. Martin's "Granby Roll" wrestling move is internationally known and utilized even today.

On November 25, 1942, Commander John W. Cummings gave the school an Alma mater . Since then, this hymn has been cherished by thousands of students as part of the school's proud heritage. The school colors, blue, silver and gold, derive from Principal Games who noted that the blue represents the school's proximity to the blue waters of the Chesapeake Bay while the silver and gold signify his belief in an ancient proverb: "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver." Of  course, the cupola atop the main building has long been a symbol of the excellence that is Granby.