Lincoln College Preparatory Academy

Lincoln College Preparatory Academy (LCPA) (also known as Lincoln Prep Academy or The Castle on the Hill) is a three-year middle school and four-year college preparatory magnet school in the Kansas City, Missouri School District. The high school offers International Baccalaureate programs. Founded as a school for African Americans in 1865, it became a high school in 1890. It was not integrated until 1978 when it became a magnet school. The student body is now mostly black and hispanic. Less than 20 percent of students are white. Lincoln was ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of the "Top 100 High Schools" in the United States in 2012 and 2015. In 2008 and 2014, the school received the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education, the highest award an American school can receive. In 2015, the academy was named the best public school in the State of Missouri. History The first school in Lincoln College Prep's lineage was founded in Kansas City, Missouri in 1865. In 1890, under the leadership of Principal Gabriel N. Grisham, Lincoln became and moved into a high school. The students learned in a church before 1890.Beginning in 1908, the high school was located at 19th and Tracy Avenue, now 1300 East 19th street. The school moved into an expanded facility at 2111 Woodland Avenue in 1936 under the leadership of Principal Hugh O. Cook. Lincoln High School remained an all-black school through most of segregation. Lincoln was created for black kids to have a chance, to help them be successful. In 1978, the student body was integrated and the institution obtained a magnet school designation operating under the name Lincoln Academy for Accelerated Study. The name was changed to Lincoln College Preparatory Academy in 1986.