History
Luther High School opened on September 8, 1957. The original class consisted of 29 ninth graders. The school was opened as a subsidiary of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, with the original feeder congregations being the four churches in the La Crosse area: First Lutheran, Mt. Calvary, Grace, and Immanuel. Of these four, only First Lutheran and Immanuel had elementary school programs from which to draw students. The following years brought steady increases to enrollment (46 in 1958 and 72 in 1959) that allowed for expansion of the school and an addition to the school structure. Since then, the school has had several additions to accommodate growing enrollment and technical advancements. [3]
Luther High School hosted a 50th anniversary celebration in 2007. Current faculty, past faculty, and past students presented at the day-long celebration. A book containing a photographic history of the previous 25 years was produced for the event.
La Crosse is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of La Crosse County. Positioned alongside the Mississippi River, La Crosse is the largest city on Wisconsin's western border. La Crosse's population as of the 2020 census was 52,680. The city forms the core of and is the principal city in the La Crosse–Onalaska Metropolitan Area, which includes all of La Crosse County and Houston County, Minnesota, with a population of 139,627.
Onalaska is a city in La Crosse County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 18,803 at the 2020 census. It borders the larger La Crosse, Wisconsin, and is a part of the La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN Metropolitan Area.
The Synod of the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, commonly called the Norwegian Synod, was founded in 1853. It included churches in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
Martin Luther College (MLC) is a private Lutheran college in New Ulm, Minnesota. It is operated by the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS). Martin Luther College was established in 1995, when Northwestern College (NWC) of Watertown, Wisconsin, combined with Dr. Martin Luther College (DMLC) of New Ulm on the latter's campus.
The Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America, often known simply as the Synodical Conference, was an association of Lutheran synods that professed a complete adherence to the Lutheran Confessions and doctrinal unity with each other. Founded in 1872, its membership fluctuated as various synods joined and left it. Due to doctrinal disagreements with the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS), the Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS) and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) left the conference in 1963. It was dissolved in 1967 and the other remaining member, the Synod of Evangelical Lutheran Churches, merged into the LCMS in 1971.
Aquinas High School is a Roman Catholic high school located in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The school is part of La Crosse Aquinas Catholic Schools and is operated by the Diocese of La Crosse.
Kettle Moraine Lutheran High School (KMLHS) is a four-year Lutheran high school in the Town of Jackson, Wisconsin, located approximately 20 miles northwest of Milwaukee. The school is affiliated with the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS).
Michigan Lutheran Seminary (MLS) is a coeducational, private preparatory school for boarding and day students in grades 9 through 12. Located in Saginaw, Michigan, the school encourages students to become pastors and teachers in the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, continuing their education at Martin Luther College in New Ulm, Minnesota.
La Crosse Aquinas Catholic Schools or ACS is a school district in La Crosse, Wisconsin and Onalaska, Wisconsin operated by the Roman Catholic Diocese of La Crosse. Previously known as Coulee Catholic Schools, the district changed its name in 2009 to Aquinas Catholic Schools.
Fox Valley Lutheran High School is a private, Lutheran, co-educational high school in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States. It was established in 1953 and is owned by a group of congregations of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS).
Wisconsin Lutheran High School, commonly referred to as WLHS or Wisco, is a private preparatory religious high school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. WLHS was formed when the Lutheran High School in Milwaukee, founded in 1903, split in the 1950s over doctrinal differences. Both resulting schools use the 1903 founding date and are thus the oldest Lutheran high schools in the United States. WLHS is owned and operated by various Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) congregations in the Milwaukee area.
The Coulee Conference is a seven-member high school athletic conference in the La Crosse, Wisconsin area. It is affiliated with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association. Conference schools have enrollments ranging from 236 to 540, with an average enrollment of 395.
Evergreen Lutheran High School is a private secondary school owned and operated by the Pacific Northwest Lutheran High School Association. It is affiliated with the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod and Evangelical Lutheran Synod, and is located in Tacoma, Washington. Evergreen Lutheran High School is supported by The Evergreen Lutheran School System (TELSS) which comprises Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS) and Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) churches and primary schools in the Puget Sound and Pacific Northwest area.
The Mississippi Valley Conference (MVC) is a high school athletic conference in southwest Wisconsin. All MVC schools are members of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA), and are located in the La Crosse, Wisconsin metropolitan area.
April Ulring Larson is an American retired Lutheran bishop. In 1992, she became the first woman to be elected to serve as a bishop by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
The Lutheran High School of Milwaukee was a Lutheran high school operated by congregations of the Missouri and Wisconsin synods in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, area from 1903 to 1955. Started in an unused classroom of Immanuel Lutheran School with 18 students, it moved in 1904 to the former site of the Wisconsin Synod's seminary at 13th and Vine streets. Enrollment increased to 340 in 1929 and led to construction of additional buildings at the site. The Great Depression caused enrollment to decline to 265 in 1938, but with the end of the depression, enrollment steadily increased to 848 in 1948. Plans were initiated to build a larger school at a new site, but doctrinal differences between the two synods resulted in the decision for each synod to build its own separate high school and dissolve the joint operation. The Missouri Synod congregations opened Milwaukee Lutheran High School in September 1955, while the Wisconsin Synod congregations used the old campus for their school, Wisconsin Lutheran High School, until their new building opened in September 1959. The enrollment in the final year of joint operation, 1954–1955, was over 1,100. Both of the successor schools consider 1903 to be their founding date.
Immanuel Lutheran College was an educational institution of the Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America whose main purpose was to train Black men to be pastors and both men and women to be teachers. It was founded in Concord, North Carolina, in 1903 and relocated to Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1905. The college was closed in 1961 when the Synodical Conference decided that the training of Blacks should be integrated into the educational institutions of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS), the largest member of the conference. The former campus was purchased by North Carolina A&T State University.
Luther College was a private black school in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. It was established by the Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America in 1903 as part of the conference's missionary work among African Americans in the Southern United States following the American Civil War. The school was founded the same year as Immanuel Lutheran College in Concord, North Carolina, and both schools had the same three departments: a secondary school, a normal school, and a seminary.
