In September of 1952, Southmore Junior High opened its doors to boys and girls in grades first through ninth. During that time, students from first through sixth grade were slowly transferred from Mae Smythe Elementary as space opened up. At the time of its opening, Southmore was the only school in Pasadena ISD to have a swimming pool and include swimming in their P.E. program. Southmore also included woodshop classes for boys and homemaking for girls. The student population was around 1,300 students. The first coaches of Southmore Junior High were Sam Sailor and Rocky Raby. In 1964, Jack D. McCoy became principal when the school changed from a junior high to an intermediate school. The school operated under a semester schedule with seven periods until 1972. In 1976, Southmore began improvements to its pool to provide a swimming sports arena for competitive swimming for all schools to use. 

After 55 years at the corner of Southmore and East Houston, new ground was broken for Southmore’s new campus in 2007. The new building opened at 2000 Pasadena Lane in Pasadena in 2008. 

Southmore is a campus that is dedicated to excellence. In recent years, Southmore students have won awards in band, orchestra and choir competitions, as well as visual arts competitions. In 2015 and 2016, the campus was awarded 6 distinctions for its academic performance by state officials. From 2017 to the present, the campus has received a B-rating by TEA. Enrollment throughout the past several years has remained steady and currently, 748 students are enrolled.

List of Principals

• Walter Matthys 1952-1964
• Jack McCoy 1964-1987, longest serving campus leader at Southmore
• Bob Fawcett 1987-1992
• Cary Partin 1992-2000
• Lana Stahl 2000-2015
• Andrea Wenke 2015-2016
• John Derek Moody 2016-present