Eldorado High School was established in 1973 on an open desert lot just west of the Las Vegas Wash between Washington and Bonanza Roads. The school opened in September 1973 along with Chaparral High School, which brought the total number of major high schools in the Las Vegas Valley to eight, including Bishop Gorman, a private Catholic high school. For the first 15 years, Eldorado's zoning covered all of the Sunrise Mountain area north of Charleston Boulevard and east of Pecos Road, which resulted in a total school attendance of more than 2,000. The largest known class to graduate from Eldorado to date was in 1985, graduating about 550 student). The majority of the students are former students of Dell H. Robison Middle School, O'Callaghan Middle School, Monaco Middle School and Bailey Middle School. In the 1980s, Eldorado received former students from Robison and Von Tobel Middle Schools as well as a handful from Roy Martin Middle School. Today, its zoning border covers areas east of Nellis Boulevard, north of Bonanza Road and south of Owens Avenue.
School layout
Its campus is bordered by Washington Avenue, Linn Lane, Harris Avenue and Christy Lane, built with an enclosed building, an American football stadium with an asphalt running track and a state of the art "sportatorium", used for basketball, volleyball and wrestling as well as assemblies and other school-related activities. Three other Las Vegas area schools were built this way: Basic High School, Bonanza High School and the Southeast Career Technical Academy ; all built in the early to mid-1970s along with Eldorado. Basic and Bonanza were built according to the same blueprints as Eldorado. In 2007, the former facilities of Bishop Gorman were purchased by CCSD to house the rising number of freshmen and to ease overcrowding at the main campus. Eldorado Preparatory Academy, the name of the temporary ninth grade campus, closed in spring 2009 when students were rezoned to Sunrise Mountain High School.
Sundevil Theater
The campus is the location of the Sundevil Theater. The theater has put on many plays, including The Curious Savage and Carousel.
One of the most successful athletics program at Eldorado has been wrestling; the school has won 12 state championships. The Sundevils were ranked 12th of the High School Scholastic Dynasty Teams of the Last Decade.
Other sports
The school has held a state championship in each of American football, boys' basketball, baseball and soccer. Eldorado also holds Nevada state championships in track and field.
Eldorado High School's Naval Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps Unit, established not long after the school opened, is a part of Naval District 13, and has received multiple awards recognizing the Sundevil Battalion as both an Honor Unit and a Chief of Naval Education and Training Command Honor Unit over the years.
Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association State championships
Every year, since 1974, Eldorado and Chaparral hold their rivalry game, in which the winner takes possession of a bronzed cleat once owned by the former Los Angeles Rams star Merlin Olsen.
