The mood was jubilant Friday as students and faculty at Cranston High School East kicked off their homecoming game with some special festivities marking this year as the school’s centennial.

Before the game, there was a special assembly in the gymnasium, where a banner chronicling the school’s spirited “Thunderbolt” history was unveiled. After that, the football team, marching band, color guard, and teachers and students, marched down Park Avenue from the school to Stebbins Field where the varsity team played Middletown. They were joined by dignitaries and other school groups. Traffic was stopped as the marchers – most dressed in the Cranston East colors of green and white – crossed busy Reservoir Avenue to make it to their destination.

Cranston East principal Thomas Barbieri said he is both proud and humbled to be head of the school as it celebrates its centennial.

 “There’s something truly special about an educational institution standing tall for a full century — still thriving, still evolving, and still deeply rooted in tradition,” he said in a recent interview. “That kind of legacy deserves to be celebrated, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

Founded first as a town, not a city, in 1754, Cranston did not have its own high school for more than 200 years. Local students who wished to have a high school education were sent to Providence, but then the capitol city began to restrict high school attendance to its own residents.

In 1891, Cranston opened its own “Cranston High School,” which was dedicated to William A. Briggs, a former superintendent. The stately building at the corner or Park and Pontiac Avenues, still serves as the school administration building today.

More space was needed not long after it was built, and in 1925, the city celebrated the opening of the imposing Greek temple style, three -story new high school. Also located on Park Avenue, is only one building away from the original Briggs building, with City Hall standing between them.

The school carried the name Cranston High School until 1958, when a second high school was built on the western side of the sitting, giving birth to decades of mostly good-natured rivalry between Cranston High School East and Cranston High School West.

Cranston East, with its trademark Thunderbolts, is one of the few high schools in the state not have an animal as its mascot. (Cranston West is the home of the Falcons.)

On Friday, alumni were out in full force, to cheer on their football team, celebrate the centennial, and show that even decades later they still have their “Thunderbolt pride.”

The football team also did its part, besting Middletown with a score of 34-0.