Excelsior Public School - Excelsior, MN
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FSU*Noles
N 44° 54.093 W 093° 33.897
15T E 455397 N 4972169
This is the old Excelsior School House, built in 1899, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Building #80002068.
Waymark Code: WM3P7R
Location: Minnesota, United States
Date Posted: 04/28/2008
Views: 46
This distinctive brick and limestone building was built in 1899, forty-four years after the first school district was organized in the Excelsior pioneer community. This is the third school building to be built on this site - the first two-story building was moved to it's current location at 321-323 Third Street, and the second was destroyed by fire.
When constructed, four rooms on the first floor took care of the first seven grades, while eighth grade and High School were on the upper floor.
At the time of construction, it was deemed to be the finest school in rural Hennepin County. There were 30 high school students the first year, by 1908 the total students numbered 345, and by 1915 the high school students were separated into their own new building on Oak Street.
For sixty-five years this building was school to Excelsior children. The school bell which had hung in the belfrey since 1899 was lowered in 1962 because of weakened timbers, and mounted on granite outside the Excelsior Library in 1966. The bell has it's own colorful history - before ringing as a school bell, it had seen use on paddle-wheel steamboats on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, as well as Lake Minnetonka in the 1880-1890's.
The last classes left this building in 1964, when it was remodeled into Administration Offices for Minnetonka School District 276.
If you are visiting this building, there is a loggable benchmark (PID PP1994) mounted right on the face of the building. It is over 100 years old, and beautifully preserved - you can log it by following this link: (
visit link)