Now known as The Tiger House, the first “High School House” from CCCHS was completed in 1970. Teacher and football coach, LaVon Ediger, started the program. 

He and students built three on-site homes, one per year, starting in the 1969-1970 school year. They still stand today: one in the 800 block of Washington (1970), another in the 400 block of Liberty (1971), and one on the 700 block of Prospect (1972).

Each features single-story, ranch-style homes with brick on the bottom half of the homes, an attached garage, large multi-pane front windows, and finished with a gable roof. 

Home economics students from 1970 remember sewing curtains to hang in the house, while a welding student recalled working on the first home’s support beam on Washington Street.

Today’s students use a temporary lumber beam, as the homes will be moved once complete. 

Now 84 years old, Ediger started a nonprofit in McPherson called ReUse it Center, where people can donate and shop old building materials to raise funds for local nonprofits. It was opened in 2011 and he still volunteers at the location. 

In 1973, teacher Steve Deutscher took over the program. In 1989, he began having students build a house at the school, which then would be bought and moved to a permanent location. 

LaVon Ediger, 1971

In total, he oversaw the completion of 17 houses, two on-site and 15 on the foundation he and his son poured the summer before it held its first student-built home.

Houses from the platform consist of 1,400 square feet on the main level, though most add a finished basement and two-car garage.

The above home was featured in the 1971 Tiger Roar yearbook, along with pictures of students on the job. (Located on page 6.)