The Northern Lakes Conference was originally formed in 1927 as Land O' Lakes Conference by eleven schools in northern Wisconsin: Argonne, Crandon, Eagle River, Elcho, Goodman, Hiles, Laona, Suring, Three Lakes, Wabeno and White Lake.[1]Phelps joined the conference after the first season,[2] and in 1929, Mountain entered the league as its thirteenth member.[3]Minocqua became a member of the Land O' Lakes Conference in 1932,[4] but membership stayed at thirteen schools due to Crandon's departure.[5] That number was decreased to eleven the next year, as Mountain and Suring left to join the Marinette & Oconto Conference.[6] Crandon reinstated their membership in the Land O' Lakes in 1934 to put the roster at twelve schools, and the conference subdivided into Northern and Southern Divisions:[7]
Northern Division
Southern Division
Eagle River
Argonne
Elcho
Crandon
Hiles
Goodman
Minocqua
Laona
Phelps
Wabeno
Three Lakes
White Lake
Name change and rural consolidations (1937–1972)
In 1937, the Land O' Lakes Conference changed its name to the Northern Lakes Conference in order to avoid confusion with another conference of the same name.[8] Membership stayed at twelve schools until the start of World War II, when both Argonne[9] and Hiles[10] closed, with students for both schools being redistricted to Crandon. The conference competed as a ten-member loop until the addition of Woodruff-Arbor Vitae in 1950, bringing the membership roster to eleven schools.[11] In 1951, Goodman accepted an invitation to join the Marinette & Oconto Conference,[12] and Elcho shifted to the Southern Division to make five teams per division:[13]
Northern Division
Southern Division
Eagle River
Crandon
Minocqua
Elcho
Phelps
Laona
Three Lakes
Wabeno
Woodruff-Arbor Vitae
White Lake
Divisional play was ended in 1954,[14] and in 1957, the number of schools in the Northern Lakes Conference decreased to eight as White Lake left for membership in the Wolf River Valley Conference[15] and Lakeland Union High School was created from the consolidation of Minocqua and Woodruff-Arbor Vitae.[16][17] Lakeland Union's tenure in the Northern Lakes Conference turned out to be short-lived, as they only spent one season in the conference before joining with larger schools in the Lumberjack Conference in 1958.[18] Goodman rejoined the conference in 1960 after spending the previous few seasons as members of the disbanded Granite Valley Conference.[19] In 1964, the Northern Lakes Conference added Florence as a new member, who joined after exiting the Big Six Conference in Michigan's upper peninsula.[20]
Minor adjustments and cooperative programs (1972–present)
Previous Northern Lakes Conference Logo, used through 2018
In 1972, Pembine entered the Northern Lakes from the Michigan-based Skyline Conference[21] and White Lake rejoined after displacement from the defunct Wolf River Valley Conference two years prior.[22] Eagle River High School changed its name to Northland Pines High School in 1974[23] when they built a new facility to relieve overcrowding, and they would leave the conference two years later for membership in the newly expanded Lumberjack Conference.[24] The Northern Lakes Conference remained a stable ten-school circuit for the next three decades before welcoming the Conserve School in Land o' Lakes into the fold in 2005.[25] Their stay would be relatively short, as they left the conference in 2009.[26][27] The Northern Lakes Conference would see four programs consolidate into two at the beginning of the 2010s, first with Goodman and Pembine in 2011[28] and then with Laona and Wabeno the next year.[29] White Lake left the conference for a second time to join the Central Wisconsin Conference in 2021,[30] bringing the membership roster to its current total of nine schools, four of which are part of cooperative programs due to size.
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