The Prairie School is a private pre K-12 school in

Wind Point, Wisconsin Wind Point is a village in Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,651 at the 2020 census. Geography Wind Point is located at (42.782452, -87.774173). According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total ...

, in the

Racine Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ; ; 22 December 1639 – 21 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille, as well as an important literary figure in the Western tra ...

metropolitan area.

History

The school first opened in 1965. It was co-founded by Imogene "Gene" Powers Johnson (died March 3, 2018), wife of Samuel Curtis Johnson Jr.; and Willie Hilpert, wife of Frank Hilpert.'' Exclusively Yours'', Volume 45. Patten Company, 1991
Snippet view
on

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...

(page number unstated): "When two area women, Mrs. Samuel (Gene) Johnson and Mrs. Frank (Willie) Hilpert, conceived the Prairie School idea in the 1960s, it came as no surprise that Taliesin Associates (the firm .. Initially the school founders intended to convert the 2300 Washington Ave. residence into a school facility and grow it at that site, but they could not overcome complying with building codes and conversion logistics, so a different site was chosen. Taliesin Associates designed the school buildings, with Charles Montooth as the lead designer of the original and subsequent buildings up to 2004. The school founders selected Taliesin's designs because they contrasted to other square/rectangular-based ones of the time; their other proposal from architects in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

, had the ordinary design. Johnson continued to serve as the director and chairperson of the school after its establishment. Michael Burke of ''

The Journal Times ''The Journal Times'' (known before 1972 as ''The Racine Journal-Times'') is a daily newspaper published in Racine, Wisconsin, serving Racine County. The newspaper is owned by Lee Enterprises. History The ''Journal Times'' traces its roots t ...

'' described her as "one of the Racine community’s major benefactors". Samuel Curtis Johnson served as the school's Chairman of the Board until 1983, when he was named Founding Chairman Emeritus, a position he held until his death. By 2004 there had been ten additions to the school facility. John H. ("Jack") Mitchell was the first Headmaster. Mark Murphy served as the headmaster from 1993 until June 30, 2014. Nathaniel Coffman, previously the headmaster of the

York Country Day School York Country Day School is a progressive Preschool through Grade 12 independent school located in York, Pennsylvania York is a city in York County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. Located in South Central Pennsylvania, the ...

, became the new headmaster at that time.

Campus

The magazine ''

Buildings A building or edifice is an enclosed structure with a roof, walls and windows, usually standing permanently in one place, such as a house or factory. Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and functions, and have been adapted throughout ...

'' described the campus as being "

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed List of Frank Lloyd Wright works, more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key ...

-inspired". Imogene Johnson, one of Prairie's founders, was the wife of the eponymous head of

SC Johnson S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc. (commonly referred to as S. C. Johnson) is an American multinational corporation, multinational corporation, privately held manufacturer of household cleaning supplies and other consumer chemicals based in Racine, ...

corporation, based in Racine. The Johnson family and company commissioned many Wright buildings, such as their corporate headquarters

Johnson Wax Headquarters The Johnson Wax Headquarters is the corporate headquarters of the household goods company S. C. Johnson & Son in Racine, Wisconsin, United States. The original headquarters includes two buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright: the Administ ...

, the

Wingspread Wingspread (also known as the Herbert F. Johnson House) is a conference center and house in Wind Point, Wisconsin, United States. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, it was built between 1938 and 1939 for the businessman Herbert Fisk Johnson Jr., ...

conference center very near the school, and others. The first building became the Middle School, and is a complete circle surrounding a small courtyard. The Lower and Upper School buildings were soon added, which are curved arcs attached to the Middle School by hallways. Other early additions included a small gymnasium, a circular cafeteria, and a teardrop-shaped art department with a second story for offices and small student workspaces with excellent lighting. Most Prairie School buildings are single story, made of brick, and colored red, and emphasize circles. With the exception of the field house, there are hallways connecting them. In 1969 the H.F. Johnson Fieldhouse opened. There was a $14 million planned addition, built circa 2004, added to the fieldhouse's north, with engineering done by Zimmerman Design Group and general contracting being done by Bukacek Construction. The addition includes a two-story atrium connecting it with the original building as well as basketball courts, a multipurpose room used for dance classes, a running track inside the building, and a weight room. In 2014 the Osiecki Soccer Field was dedicated and is a “certified level two” playing surface by the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the only FIFA–2 level high school soccer field in Wisconsin. In 2020 construction began on the Leipold Johnson Early Childhood Center a 12,500 square foot Early School (3K & 4K PreKindergarten) building which opened in August 2021. Built by Bukacek Construction each classroom has 1,220-square-feet. The Early School wing also has an art room, music room and multi-purpose room that is available to all students.

Athletics

The following sports are offered in the Upper School: Fall: * Cross Country (Coed Varsity) *

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

(Golf – Girls Varsity) *

(Golf – Girls JV) *

Soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

(Boys Varsity) *

(Boys JV) *

Tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

(Girls Varsity) *

(Girls JV) *

Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

(Girls Varsity) *

(Girls JV) *

(Girls JV2) *

Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

Diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), ...

(Girls’ Varsity) Winter: *

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

(Boys Varsity) *

(Boys JV 1) *

(Boys JV 2) *

(Girls Varsity) *

(Girls JV) *

(Boys Varsity) *

Wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

(Varsity) Spring: *

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

(Varsity) *

(JV) *

(Golf – Boys Varsity) *

(Golf – Boys JV) *

(Girls Varsity) *

(Girls JV) *

(Boys Varsity) *

(Boys JV) * Track (Boys) * Track (Girls)

References

External links

The Prairie School
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prairie School Schools in Racine County, Wisconsin Private K–12 schools in the United States Private high schools in Wisconsin Private middle schools in Wisconsin Private elementary schools in Wisconsin 1965 establishments in Wisconsin Educational institutions established in 1965

History

Campus

Athletics

Further reading

References

External links