The schools we’ve lost

Enrollment in Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) is declining. Part of that decline is due to the rise of charter schools — parents have more options of where to educate their children than they’ve ever had. The COVID-19 pandemic played a part, too. When the schools switched to online teaching, some students never came back to the school buildings. 

Fewer students means less state aid. In coming months, the School Board will have to make some tough budget decisions, including closing schools. On March 4, Superintendent of Schools Lisa Sayles-Adams announced $110 million in budget cuts. 

Northeast has seen a number of schools come and go through the years, most of them elementary schools. Some were structurally deficient (fire hazards, kindergarten classroom belowground). Others were closed to facilitate busing. Let’s take a look at the ones we’ve lost.

In the beginning

Formal education in Minneapolis goes back to 1834, when the Rev. J.D. Stevens established a school at Lake Harriet for children who lived at Fort Snelling and Mdewakanton Dakota who lived near Cloud Man’s village by Bde Maka Ska.

The Minneapolis Public Schools got their start when Everett School was built in 1851. It was a wood frame building at 608-612 University Ave NE. Also called the “2nd ward school house (St Anthony),” the school closed in 1871.

There were schools on Nicollet Island, too. Built in 1900, Nicollet School was a four-room frame building on the north end of the island. The school was not open in 1913-1914, and closed for good in 1918. Island School opened in 1911 in the Nicollet school building, but moved in November 1912 to the old Marcy school at 9th Avenue SE and 4th Street and was renamed Thomas Arnold School, “a disciplinary and opportunity school.”

More recent closures

Bottineau: Bottineau Elementary may be one of MPS’ most short-lived schools. It opened in 1992 in a leased space at the Church of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, 1315 2nd St. NE. It closed in 2002 and its Pre-K-3 program moved to Pillsbury School.

East High: Before Edison was built in 1922, there was East High. The school was built in 1899 for $90,000. Students learned everything from Latin to “manual training.” The building originally had a peaked roof, which was removed in 1915. East High School closed in 1925 and became Boys’ Vocational School from 1927 to 1932. Most of the building was torn down in the 1950s, but a portion remained and was used for offices. The school and the Eastgate Shopping Center were cleared out to allow construction of Lunds & Byerlys and Cobalt apartments. 

Holland: There were two Holland schools, named after Josiah G. Holland, who started his working life as a doctor, switched to teaching and then became an editor and the founder of Scribner’s Magazine. The first was built at 17th and Washington in 1886. It had six classrooms, two kindergartens and a gymnasium. The school was closed in 1969 after a new Holland School opened at 1500 6th St. NE. The new school closed in 2005 and students were sent to Waite Park Elementary. The building is now owned by Grace Center for Community Life.

Lowry: Named after streetcar magnate Thomas Lowry, the K-6 school opened on the corner of 29th and Lincoln St. NE in 1915. In 1962, Lowry had 487 students, with a student/teacher ratio of 32.6 to 1. The school fell to the wrecking ball in 1978. The open space where the school stood is part of Audubon Park and hosts many summer soccer tournaments. The school’s playground is now a parking lot.

Pierce: As with Holland, there were also two Pierce Schools, named after Franklin Pierce, 14th president of the U.S. The first was opened in 1896 in a former church on Fillmore Street, between Spring and Summer streets. The second opened in 1900 just a short distance away — the corner of Broadway and Fillmore. A 1931 engineering report showed the school had 13 classrooms and 466 students. The principal was Ottelle J. Gaus. A separate, small frame building was used as a gymnasium and the school offered a woodworking class. The school closed in 1966, and fire consumed the building in 1969. The school site is now part of Beltrami Park.

Pillsbury: The Minneapolis Public Schools likes to reuse names; Pillsbury School is no exception. The first Pillsbury was built at 23rd and Hayes in 1907 and added onto in 1908, 1912 and 1923. Named after John S. Pillsbury, the eighth governor of Minnesota and one of the founders of the Pillsbury Company, it had a student population of 467 in 1962 and a student/teacher ratio of 28.8 to 1. The old Pillsbury was torn down in 1990, and its replacement opened on the same site in the 1991-92 school year as a math-science-technology magnet.

Prescott: A temporary school that became permanent, William Prescott Elementary opened in 1884 at the corner of Lowry Avenue and Taylor Street. (Prescott was a Revolutionary War hero who supposedly said, “Do not fire until you see the whites of their eyes.”) Manual training, domestic science and sewing were taught in the basement of the building, which had 16 classrooms. By 1962, the school was bursting at the seams, with an enrollment of 671 — 91 more students than it was supposed to handle — and had a student/teacher ratio of 31.3 to 1. The school was still in use in 1968, although newspaper reports noted it had no playground space and was too close to Lowry Avenue. The site is now a Minneapolis Public Housing Authority sixplex.

Putnam: This school, at 1616 Buchanan, was named after MPS Superintendent Rufus A. Putnam, one of the district’s longest-serving superintendents. It was built next to Northeast Athletic Field Park to replace Pierce and Whitney Schools. The school was closed in 2005 and the site sold. It is now the home of Yinghua Academy. 

Schiller: Before its 1890 opening, students from Schiller School met at a private home at 2636 Grand St. NE. Named for German poet, playwright and historian Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller, the school’s address was 2620 California St. A 1931 report notes the school’s “poor location” — because of traffic and railroad tracks, students were bused to school. The school closed in 1972. MPS auctioned off the school’s equipment in 1974 and the building was razed soon after.

Van Cleve: Van Cleve School stood at the corner of Lowry and Jefferson and was named for Charlotte Ouisconsin Clark Van Cleve, who arrived at Fort Snelling in 1819 and was the first woman elected to the Minneapolis School Board. It had 19 classrooms. It was closed in 1941 and the site was sold in 1953.

Webster: Named after American statesman and orator Daniel Webster, the school was originally located at Summer and Monroe. It was built in 1880 and additions were built in 1888 and 1908. It had eight classrooms. A new Webster school was built at 425 5th St. NE in 1974. The old school was torn down in 1980. The school closed in 2007, but reopened for the 2015-16 school year.

Whitney: Six-classroom Whitney opened in 1920. It was named for inventor Eli Whitney. After it was destroyed by fire in 1962, its 170 students were dispersed among other Northeast schools. Lowry took in 109 students; 26 went to Pillsbury; kindergartners went to Waite Park. Although they had the same principal, Herb Karsten, the Lowry kids and the Whitney kids were taught in separate classrooms by their respective teachers.

Winthrop: This school opened in 1867 at Central Avenue and 4th Street SE. From 1885 until it closed in 1890, Winthrop held grammar school and high school classes for East Side students. The wood-framed building was demolished in 1899 and was replaced by East High.

“Portable” schools

Minneapolis put up a number of so-called portable schools in the 1920s and earlier. Lowry School started out as a portable in 1911 and became a traditional bricks-and-mortar building four years later.

Cary: Cary was a portable school built at the intersection of 33rd and Cleveland in 1924. According to a 1931 report, Alfreda H. Voight was the principal. There were four classrooms and 72 students. The school was closed in 1942 and MPS sold the site six years later.

Cavell: Cavell was housed in another portable building, built in 1918 on the corner of 35th and Taylor. That site was sold in 1923, and the school was moved to 3425 Fillmore St. It had eight classrooms and 250 students. The school closed in 1949 and the site was sold in 1968.

Gresham: Gresham was a portable built in 1926 at 3483 North 2nd Street. It was replaced in 1927 by a four-room portable at 508 36th Ave. NE. The school, named for one of the first American soldiers killed in World War I, James B. Gresham, closed in 1942.

Sources

mpshistory.mpls.k12.mn.us

electiontrendsproject.org/lists/inventory.html

Svendsen, G. Rolf, “Schools By Name – Not By Number,” Hennepin History, Summer 1974

Zellie, Carol, “Minneapolis Public Schools Historic Context Study,” April 2005

“Blaze Destroys Whitney School,” Minneapolis Star, Sept. 18, 1962

Gilje, Paul, “Action Urged on Burned School,” Minneapolis Star, Sept. 14, 1963

Fuehrer, Tim, “Early schools: From green lumber to cost overruns, even then,” Northeaster, Oct. 18, 1989