Bus drivers stand with the five buses of the Mustang Public School system.
The first school district meeting was on Sept. 1, 1902. A three-man school board was elected and a 20-mill tax levy was voted. They decided to begin an eight-month school term as soon as a school was available.
A schoolroom was created by removing a partition between two rooms in the Mustang State Bank building. Miss Etta Fisher was hired at $40 a month as the first teacher, and had 45 students that first year.
Lack of money and furniture delayed the start of school. The term finally began in mid-October 1902 and ended five-and-a-half months later. A two-room schoolhouse was built during the summer of 1903, in what is now the southeast corner of the MHS campus. The green building measured 24 feet by 70 feet. Grades 1-4 were taught in one room and grades 5-8 met in the other. A ninth grade class was added for the 1904-1905 school year, which lasted for eight months.
In 1920, the voters of Mustang School District and the four surrounding districts (Pleasant Hill, Shiloh, Center Valley and Cedar Creek) formed a union graded district. This meant grades 1-6 were taught in each of the outlying districts. Grades 7 and 8 joined Mustang students in the two-room Mustang school. Ninth graders were taught on the second floor of a store.
Mustang Schools first became accredited with the State Department of Education in 1920. A brick school was built to house grades 1-12. Mustang became an independent school district when its four-year high school was fully accredited. The first MHS graduating class was in 1924.