Washburn High School

Washburn High School is a four-year public high school serving grades 9–12 in the Tangletown neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. By enrollment, Washburn is the second-largest high school in Minneapolis Public Schools. History Washburn High School was built in 1925 to meet the demands of the growing South Minneapolis neighborhood. Construction for the new three-story building began in 1924 after the Minneapolis Board of Education purchased unused land in Washburn Park. Land next to the school was occupied by the Washburn Memorial Orphan Asylum, now torn down and replaced with Justice Page Middle School (formerly Ramsey Middle School). Washburn is in southern Minneapolis's Tangletown neighborhood, at 201 West 49th Street. Washburn opened on September 8, 1925, to 1,031 students. When it opened, it served grades 7–10 and added one year each year for the next two years. It served middle school and high school students until 1929. It became very popular, and by 1931, 2,370 students attended the school built for 1,500. The school has been expanded several times to meet the high enrollment. The school is conventionally named after Cadwallader C. Washburn. When the school was presented to the school board it was called William D. Washburn High School, in reference to Cadwallader's brother, but naming the school after William is thought to be an error. The school has been heavily influenced by Minneapolis's milling empire. Its newspaper, The Grist, involves milling terminology; the school's colors, blue and orange, were those of Gold Medal Flour, a company partly run by the Washburn family and a predecessor to General Mills; and the athletic teams' nickname is the Millers.