Waterloo School District history

In 1864, Union School, “Old Brick” opened at Mulberry and 6th Street as a four-room building.

1874–East Side High School opened on High Street between Lime and Vine.

in 1889, the first Lowell School opened at 1223 Washington Street.

1893–Louisa May Alcott School opened on Walnut between East 2nd and 3rd Streets.

in 1906, John G. Whittier Elementary School opened at West 3rd and Sullivan.

1909–Manual Training School opened on Mulberry at 6th, on the site of the Holland School.

In 1913 the first Lincoln Elementary School was opened at Parker and Westfield.

In 1919 Kingsley Elementary School, located at 201 Sunset Road at the intersection of Prospect Boulevard, was completed.

It closed in 1920 when Francis Grout opened.

In 1927, it was remodeled; Central was renamed Sloane Wallace Junior High School.

The third school involved in that merger, Pleasant Dale School, located at the junction of Highways 57 and 63, closed in 1947, the year the merger took place.

Jewett Elementary at 600 Collins in Evansdale–this building had been built in 1948 and named for a Black Hawk County Superintendent.

Elk Run Elementary on McCoy Road in Elk Run Heights–this school had been built in 1952.

Logan Junior High was also built in 1953 at 1515 Logan Avenue and named for a beloved superintendent.

Construction of an addition and remodeling of the original building in 1954 created a unique enrichment room adapted to teaching art, music, and children’s literature.

John Thies was a former member of the East Waterloo Board of Directors (or, superintendent). It was a two-room school that closed in 1958.

In 1959 an annex was built to the school.

Since Hawkeye opened its doors in 1966, it has focused on meeting the needs of the community, providing quality, affordable training for learners at all stages of life.

Other schools built in 1967 led to the district’s all time high enrollment of 19,873 students.

In 1970 the building was remodeled for the Bridgeway Project, an alternative educational program for elementary students.

Central High School opened at Huntington and Hackett Roads in 1972 at an estimated cost of $4,000,000.

It closed in 1978 and was sold to the City of Waterloo who converted it to a Hazardous Material Training Center.

McKinstry School was converted from a junior high facility to an elementary school in 1981.

In 1987, it closed; it was sold to the City of Waterloo.

In September 1994, Memorial Stadium (track, field, and stands) opened through the support of a private fund drive led by the P.A.S.S. Committee.

The former Roosevelt Elementary School, which closed at the end of the 2003-04 school year, had a $3 million transformation where a developer turned the classrooms into 21 apartments for lower-income residents which placed the 85-year-old landmark on the National Register of Historic Places.

The new Lincoln Elementary opened in 2004 at 302 Cedar Bend Street on property donated by the City of Waterloo, through the Waterloo Water Works Board of Trustees.

The renovated Kingsley Elementary opened in August 2006.

In the fall of 2009, the new Kittrell Elementary School was opened just southeast of the old building, at 1304 Oregon Street, Waterloo, IA 50702.

In 1914 Edison Elementary School at 800 Rock Island Avenue, was built to replace the Westfield School. Its students were then served by Fred Becker Elementary School, which opened in January 2012, at 1239 Sheldon in Waterloo.

It will close in May of 2013, being replaced by a new Orange Elementary School.