In the summer of 1969, with the incoming 8th-, 9th-, and 10th-graders who would make up Hillsborough High School's first students yet to set foot in the new building, the school board was already announcing that the district was out of space and would need to build yet another school. Coming up with a proposal took another year and a half. This January, that school became the seventh of Hillsborough’s nine schools to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

Hillsborough Middle School

In December 1970, the board revealed plans for Hillsborough's first true Middle School, to be built on a 30-acre tract at the intersection of Amwell and Pleasantview Roads. The $120,000 purchase price for the property would be part of a $4.2 million bond referendum set for March 9, 1971. The school had an expected completion date of September 1973, just in time to save Hillsborough from having to rent classroom space from churches and the rescue squad - although the 1972-73 school year would require using the sub-standard rooms at Bloomingdale, Flagtown, and Liberty Schools.

The two-story school would accommodate 1,200 6th-, 7th-, and 8th-grade students in 38 regular classrooms, two industrial arts rooms, three science labs, two home economics rooms, two music rooms, and three practice rooms. Also included were three remedial rooms, an art room, a mechanical drafting room, a gymnasium, a library, and a cafeteria.

The referendum failed spectacularly, 761 opposed to 318 in favor. A second referendum, held in June 1971, to construct a one-story building on the property near Triangle School, fared even worse, failing by a three-to-one margin.

A third referendum, held two years later on April 30, 1973, finally passed. The only difference between the second and third votes was that by 1973, the overcrowding situation and the enrollment projections had become dire.

Construction contracts were duly awarded in March 1974, and the school was completed and ready for students in January 1976

The Hillsborough Middle School has undergone two expansions since its opening. The first, approved in 1988, added classrooms at the front of the building. The second was a major expansion approved by voters in 1992 that added the 500-student annex on the west side of the building. The annex is unique in that it was intended as a self-contained school, with a gymnasium, cafeteria, and 20 classrooms.

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Gregory Gillette has been writing about local history for 20 years, starting with his Courier News column “Gillette on Hillsborough” and continuing today with a Facebook page of the same name. He was named as Hillsborough’s first Local Historian in 2025.