Ask Mr. Sun: The letter B on the mountain in Henderson

Hey, Mr. Sun, what is the story behind the giant letter B on the side of a mountain in Henderson?

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Henderson’s hillside “B” marks the territory of Basic High School, which, by the way, was named for the magnesium plant not the school’s curriculum.

The letter has been there nearly four decades, but it isn’t the city’s first B. The original went up soon after the first Basic campus opened in 1955, on Van Wagenen Street.

When the school moved in 1971 to its current location, near Boulder Highway and Lake Mead Parkway, the student body built a better B on the hills beyond Racetrack Road.

(The old B, with a bit of creative editing, became an “F” for Foothill High School, Basic’s crosstown rival.)

“It’s a tradition that Basic’s senior class goes up there every year, generally it’s homecoming week,” said John Gilmour, a longtime English and yearbook teacher at the school. “They take a gallon of paint each so on homecoming night it’s nice and white. Lately, they pour more paint on themselves than the B.”

The letter is about 60 feet tall and, according to Gilmour, nearly impervious to attacks.

“Sometimes kids from Foothill — I mean unknown people — will go up there and try to vandalize it,” he said. “But you and 12 drunken friends couldn’t hurt it, it’s so big.”

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