South Division High School is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

. South Division is part of the

Milwaukee Public Schools Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) is the largest school district in Wisconsin. As of the 2015–16 school year, MPS served 75,568 students in 154 schools and had 9,636 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff positions. The Milwaukee Public Schools system i ...

History

The building was built after an 1890 motion by the Milwaukee Board of School Directors, as a second Milwaukee high school for the South Side. Thus, South Division is the second-oldest high school in the MPS system (after the old East Division High School, now called Riverside University High).

Innovation in school lunches

At the start of the 1899 school year, Principal Arthur Burch was granted permission to open a

school lunch A school meal or school lunch (also known as hot lunch, a school dinner, or school breakfast) is a meal provided to students and sometimes teachers at a school, typically in the middle or beginning of the school day. Countries around the world ...

room in the building. A basement room 27 by 60 feet was selected for the purpose; a kitchen 10 by 20 feet was partitioned off in one corner; furniture, dishes, etc. were purchased (for $316.65), and Emma Stiles of Chicago was placed in charge, to purchase provisions, plan each day's menu, and to see that all lunches were paid for. The

menu In a restaurant, the menu is a list of food and beverages offered to customers and the prices. A menu may be à la carte – which presents a list of options from which customers choose – or table d'hôte, in which case a pre-established seque ...

was posted on a blackboard in the corridor, with each dish priced at five cents. This was something in the nature of an innovation and other cities made inquiries regarding the success of the scheme. The principal advantage, according to Burch's report to the Superintendent, was derived from serving warm lunches to the students, many of whom came from a distance too great to go home every day for a warm lunch, and who did better work in the afternoons than if they had eaten a cold one.

Demolition of old building

A new South Division High building opened September 7, 1977, one block from the old school.Clampitt, Russ. "No Lunches, No Gym -- And No Complaints". ''

Milwaukee Sentinel The ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' is a daily morning broadsheet printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it is the primary newspaper. It is also the largest newspaper in the state of Wisconsin, where it is widely distributed. It is currently ...

'' September 8, 1977; p. 5 Almost nothing was brought over from the old building, but the crowning copper

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

, "a South Side landmark since it was built in the 1890s" was preserved when the building was demolished in 1978. Efforts to bring it "back home" to be incorporated into the new building failed; and it now ornaments a local gardening supply business, where it also houses a collection of old South Division memorabilia.

Demographics

The demographic breakdown of the 1,138 students enrolled for the 2012-2013 school year was: *Male - 53.5% *Female - 46.5% *Native American/Alaskan - 1.2% *Asian/Pacific islanders - 13.4% *Black - 32.1% *Hispanic - 46.9% *White - 5.9% *Multiracial - 0.5% In addition, 86.1% of the students were eligible for free or reduced lunch.

Athletics

The Cardinals compete in the

Milwaukee City Conference The Milwaukee City Conference (also known as "City Conference") is a high school athletic conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. All full-time member institutions are located in the city of Milwaukee and are members of the Milwaukee Public Schools sys ...

. The school colors are cardinal red and white. South Division offers the following sports: *Baseball (boys) *Basketball (boys & girls) *Football (boys) *Golf (boys) *Soccer (boys & girls) *Softball (girls) *Tennis (girls) *Track (boys & girls) *Volleyball (girls) *Wrestling (boys) South Division won state championships in boys' cross country in 1922, 1923 and 1931.

Notable alumni

Arthur Bremer Arthur Herman Bremer (; born August 21, 1950) is an American convicted criminal who attempted to assassinate U.S. Democratic presidential candidate George Wallace on May 15, 1972, in Laurel, Maryland, which left Wallace permanently paralyzed ...

, made an assassination attempt on

George Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Alabama for four terms. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best remembered for his staunch segregationist and ...

* Darroll DeLaPorte, football player * B. Z. Glass, Wisconsin State Representative * Stone Hallquist, football player *

Ralph Hermann Ralph Hermann (February 9, 1914 – July 28, 1994) was an American composer and conductor. He also used the pseudonym Richard Hale. Hermann worked as head of the music department of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) since 1952 until his reti ...

, composer and arranger * Clarence C. Krause, Wisconsin State Representative * Richard B. Nowakowski, Wisconsin State Representative *

Richard C. Nowakowski Richard C. Nowakowski is a former member of the Wisconsin State Assembly. Biography Nowakowski was born on September 17, 1933, in Milwaukee. He attended South Division High School before moving on to Marquette University and the University o ...

, Wisconsin State Representative * Olaf C. Olsen, Marquette student elected to

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Representatives are elected for two-year terms, ...

at age 23 while still in law school * Sam L. Orlich, Wisconsin State Representative *

Terry Porter Terry Porter (born April 8, 1963) is an American former college basketball coach and former player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was most recently the head men's basketball coach at the University of Portland. A native of Wisc ...

, coach and player in National Basketball Association * Joseph Przybylski, Wisconsin State Representative * Charles J. Schmidt, Wisconsin State Representative and Senator * Herbert H. Smith, Wisconsin State Senator *

Christian Steinmetz Christian Steinmetz (June 28, 1882 – June 11, 1963) was an American basketball player. He played forward for the University of Wisconsin from 1903 to 1905. He was college basketball's leading scorer in the game's first 25 years from 1895 to 1 ...

, athlete and lawyer in

Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pre ...

* Raymond J. Tobiasz, Wisconsin State Representative * Fred Williams, football player * John M. Young, Wisconsin State Representative * Carl Zimmermann, television journalist, news anchor, and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

correspondent * Arthur L. Zimny, Wisconsin State Senator

References

External links

South Division High School1926 post card depicting old South Division High building. The copper dome which topped this building
{{authority control Public high schools in Wisconsin High schools in Milwaukee