Spirit Lake School
Spirit Lake School 1910
The sheer number of students and staff in this photo is testament to how quickly the town of Spirit Lake was growing. This building, facing Jefferson Street at the corner of 5th (Highway 41), remained in use as the Spirit Lake School until the latter part of the 20th century.
As the town continued to grow, the school did too. A gymnasium and additional classrooms were added to the back of the original structure. The part to the left is currently being restored and was renamed the Brown/Woolen Community Center after James Brown and Mildred Woolen who fought for its preservation. The part to the right was torn down and replaced by Maple Tree Court Apartments.
The school provided a backdrop for celebrating the end of World War I in 1918.
The high school band in 1926.
Miss Olive Hansel's third grade class in 1928.
A new elementary school was built next to the original elementary school, now renamed the Woolen Brown Center, which was then converted to being a community center, including the library, senior center, and meeting rooms for Lions Club, Boy Scouts, and the Headstart program. Since the late 1990's a new high school and junior high school revitalized Spirit Lake as a center for education in our area.