History
Rapid Growth of Metropolitan Area (1955–1963)
Due to the rapid growth around the Milwaukee area occurring after World War II, new school districts began to pop up in and around Milwaukee County. In 1955, Salem Central joined the conference, [4] followed by Brookfield and Nicolet in 1956. [5] Salem Central left in 1958 to join the Southeastern Wisconsin Conference and cut down on the long travel distances from Kenosha County they had been experiencing as Braveland members. [6] They were replaced by the new high schools in Granville and Muskego that same year. [7] Oak Creek joined the conference in 1959, [8] just as Watertown left to rejoin the Little Ten Conference. [9] In 1961, the conference added six schools: Brookfield East, [10] Greendale (formerly of the Suburban Conference), Greenfield, Homestead, New Berlin and Whitnall. Brookfield East and New Berlin joined as junior varsity members before attaining full membership in 1962. To accommodate this growth, the conference split into two divisions. [11]
| Northern Braveland | Southern Braveland |
|---|
| Cedarburg | Brookfield |
| Granville | Greendale |
| Homestead | Greenfield |
| Menomonee Falls | Muskego |
| Nicolet | Oak Creek |
| Port Washington | Whitnall |
In 1962, Brookfield East and New Berlin joined as full members, and they were placed in the Southern Braveland. The newly renamed Brookfield Central shifted to the Northern Braveland to accommodate the expansion. Hamilton High School in Sussex joined that same year as a junior varsity member. [12]
| Northern Braveland | Southern Braveland |
|---|
| Brookfield Central | Brookfield East |
| Cedarburg | Greendale |
| Granville | Greenfield |
| Homestead | Muskego |
| Menomonee Falls | New Berlin |
| Nicolet | Oak Creek |
| Port Washington | Whitnall |
The influx of new high schools in the Milwaukee area led both the Braveland and Suburban Conferences to begin discussing realignment options in the early 1960s. [13] With three more high schools set to join as full members in 1963 (Franklin, St. Francis and Sussex Hamilton), the Braveland decided that a seventeen-member conference was too unwieldy to continue. [14] The eight members in the southern suburbs left to form what later became the Parkland Conference: [15] Franklin, Greendale, Greenfield, Muskego, New Berlin, Oak Creek, St. Francis and Whitnall. [16] Their departure solidified the Braveland as a conference for the Milwaukee area's northern second-ring suburban schools. In 1966, Granville High School changed its name to Brown Deer High School, [17] [18] due in part to annexation of the formerly unincorporated town of Granville into the city of Milwaukee a few years earlier. [19] [20] Conference membership increased to ten in 1969 with the split of Menomonee Falls High School into Menomonee Falls East and Menomonee Falls North. [21]
Comprehensive Realignment in Southeastern Wisconsin (1980–1985)
After years of discussion on high school conference realignment in southeastern Wisconsin, the WIAA presented a sweeping realignment plan for the 1980-81 school year. Two conferences were dissolved (the Scenic Moraine and South Shore) [22] and four of the thirteen displaced schools joined the Braveland, bringing membership to fourteen. Arrowhead, Germantown and Grafton joined from the Scenic Moraine and Kenosha Bradford from the South Shore. [23] [24] Kenosha Bradford would leave to join the Milwaukee Area Conference three years later, [25] and in 1984, the two Menomonee Falls high schools merged to form a new Menomonee Falls High School [26] [27] on East's campus.
In 1985, another round of conference realignment had occurred in southeastern Wisconsin, and seven schools left the Braveland Conference. Brown Deer joined the Parkland Conference, and six schools (Cedarburg, Germantown, Grafton, Homestead, Nicolet and Port Washington) left to form the North Shore Conference (along with former Suburban Conference members Shorewood, Wauwatosa East, Wauwatosa West and Whitefish Bay). Replacing the seven schools exiting the conference were Mukwonago from the Parkland Conference and Waukesha North and Waukesha South from the Suburban Conference. [28] For the final eight years of the conference's existence, all of its member schools were located in Waukesha County.
Dissolution of the Braveland Conference
The Braveland Conference was realigned out of existence by the WIAA after the 1992-93 school year. Its four largest members (Arrowhead, Mukwonago, Waukesha North and Waukesha South) [29] joined the new fifteen-member Southeast Conference. The four smaller schools were dispersed to three different conferences: Brookfield Central and Brookfield East went to the new Woodland Conference, and Menomonee Falls and Sussex Hamilton went to the North Shore and Parkland Conferences, respectively. [30] Waukesha West High School was slated to become a member of the Braveland when they opened in 1993, [31] but the conference had been disbanded by that time and they joined the Southeast Conference.
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