Manatee High School is the oldest public high school in Bradenton, Florida, operated by the Manatee County School District.^[5]

Bradentown High School opened in 1897 on what is now 15th Street West and Ballard Park Drive operating out of a wooden two-story building. A brick building replaced the original building in 1912. The original building became the Bradentown Intermediate School serving students from 3rd to 6th grade until closing in 1923 when a replacement was built. After the new intermediate school was built the old one bought by Bradenton's municipal government and demolished.^[6][7][8] Sometime prior to 1915 students who lived across the Manatee River in Palmetto started attending the school and it became known as Manatee County High School. Sometime during the 1920s it became known as Bradenton High School as a high school was created in Palmetto.^[9]

African American students were excluded and attended Lincoln Academy and then Lincoln High School in Bradenton and Memorial High School in Palmetto which were combined into Lincoln Memorial High School in Palmetto. A documentary film about their history is called Through the Tunnel, named for the tunnel used to reach the school's athletic field across U.S. 41. Many of Lincoln Memorial High Schools students were integrated into Manatee High School in the wave of desegregation when Lincoln High was made into a middle school.

In 1930, Bradenton High School relocated to the site where Biltmore Grade School formerly operated. The Biltmore Grade School was originally built in 1926^[10] but closed one year later because of the collapse of the Florida Land Boom.^[9] The school's second location would end up becoming the Bradenton Junior High School in 1938 serving students in 7th to 9th grade before being made into the county school district administration offices in 1956 which served in that role until being demolished in 1989 when a new administration building was built.^[11] The building that formerly housed the Biltmore Grade School became known as the Davis Building after a longtime principal of the school, Paul F. Davis.^[10] Both Bradenton High School and Palmetto High School merged with each other in 1947 and the school would be renamed once again to Manatee County High School but ended up splitting again in 1959 with the school getting the name Manatee High School.^[10] Walker Junior High School which existed across the street from Manatee High School would be absorbed by Manatee High in 1969 as a part of the school district doing redistricting for desegregation.^[12] In 1997 a major redesign for the Davis Building that included new classrooms, a science-technology building, gym, and administration building was constructed.^[13] Most of Walker Junior High School was demolished in 1998 with only the western portion remaining.^[12] The Davis Building was demolished in 2011 and replaced.^[10]

The name for the school newspaper is derived from the school's former name, Manatee County High School, using the first two letters from each word to create "Macohi". Currently in its 94th volume, the Macohi began as "The Oracle", while the yearbook was named the Macohi. In 1990, the paper was awarded a Silver Crown Newspaper (for high schools) by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association.^[14][15]

Manatee High School athletic teams have won 16 FHSAA state championships. The following sports are available to students at Manatee:^[26]

• Flag Football (girls)