Ground was broken on May 24, 1956, and the building was finished on September 4, 1958. The new auditorium, with a seating capacity of 1100, was dedicated on November 9, 1958, to A. Norman Ranck, supervising principal. The library was dedicated to Sanders P. McComsey, former president of the Joint School Board. The capacity of the building was 1500 students, and the cost of construction and equipment was $3,325,000. As described in a 1959 architectural journal, "The ultra-modern Penn Manor High School in traditionally conservative Lancaster County represents an abrupt break with many local building traditions. It also serves as an ingenious solution to a knotty architectural problem. Designing a large building to fit a relatively small site, with a fall of 55 feet in 700 feet, was further complicated by solid ledges of sub-surface rock. The result was a three level plan, molding the building to the contours of the site. Another unusual and interesting example of adapting the building to the site is the flat S-shape of the 600 foot long main corridor – interrupting what would have been an overly long, monotonous, and confining hallway."