Wisconsin Lutheran High School

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 (WLHS and Milwaukee Lutheran High School) 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. History In 1903, a group of Lutheran pastors, teachers, and laymen from congregations affiliated with the Wisconsin and Missouri synods started a high school in an unused classroom of Immanuel Lutheran School in Milwaukee with 18 students.) In 1904, it relocated 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, marking the end of the joint operation of the school. The Wisconsin Synod congregations continued to use the old campus for their school until their new building opened in September 1959. The Wisconsin Synod congregations formed "The Wisconsin Lutheran High School Convention" in 1952. The convention conducted a study that found that 60% of Wisconsin Synod members lived north of the Menomonee Valley and 40% lived south of it. This meant that either one high school in the middle of the city or both north and south high schools would be needed. Accepting a donation of acreage north of Capitol Drive at about 100th Street would have required the latter option, so the offer was rejected and the convention looked for land in the middle of the city.