As Charles W. Woodward High School prepares to reopen in fall 2027, nearly 40 years after closing, the school is beginning a new chapter in a history that has long been intertwined with neighboring Walter Johnson High School. The two schools have shared students, traditions and even a mascot, with their histories dating back to the rapid growth of Montgomery County’s suburban Bethesda and Rockville communities in the 1950s and 1960s.
Walter Johnson High School opened in 1956 on Rock Spring Drive, named after legendary Washington Senators pitcher and Montgomery County resident Walter “The Big Train” Johnson. The school was originally known as the Spartans, a mascot that would eventually be replaced through an unusual connection to another high school that had not yet opened.
In 1963, Walter Johnson students painted a large cow on the school’s chimney, a reference to the dairy farms that once occupied much of the surrounding area. The cow became known as the “Mighty Moo” and developed into one of the school’s most recognizable traditions…