Northwest Border Conference

The Northwest Border Conference is a former high school athletic conference comprising small public high schools along the St. Croix River in northwestern Wisconsin. The conference existed from 1940 to 1955, and all member schools were affiliated with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.

History

30km
19miles

   

Location of Original Upper St. Croix Conference Members

The Northwest Border Conference was founded in 1940 from a split of the ten-member Upper St. Croix Valley Conference.^[1] The five smallest schools in that conference (Balsam Lake, Centuria, Luck, Milltown and Webster), joined with Siren (previously an independent) to form the original six-member roster.^[2] Members were located in Burnett and Polk Counties, and all but one (Balsam Lake) were located along Wisconsin Highway 35. After only two seasons in the conference, Milltown returned to the Upper St. Croix Valley Conference in 1942,^[3] leaving the conference with five members. Luck followed Milltown back to the Upper St. Croix Valley in 1946^[4] and were replaced by Somerset in 1947.^[5] The Northwest Border Conference competed as a five-member loop until Webster rejoined the Upper St. Croix Valley in 1953.^[6] The conference continued with four members until its dissolution in 1955. Somerset immediately joined the Dunn-St. Croix Conference upon their exit,^[7] while Balsam Lake, Centuria and Siren became independents. All three schools eventually joined the Lakeland Conference: Balsam Lake and Centuria in 1956^[8] and Siren in 1959.^[9]

Conference membership history

School	Location	Affiliation	Enrollment	Mascot	Colors	Joined	Left	Conference Joined	Current Conference
Balsam Lake	Balsam Lake, WI	Public	N/A	Warriors		1940[1]	1955[8]	Independent	Closed in 1957 (merged into Unity)
Centuria	Centuria, WI	Public	N/A	Raiders		1940[1]	1955[8]	Independent	Closed in 1957 (merged into Unity)
Luck	Luck, WI	Public	118	Cardinals		1940[1]	1946[4]	Upper St. Croix Valley	Lakeland
Milltown	Milltown, WI	Public	N/A	Wildcats		1940[1]	1942[3]	Upper St. Croix Valley	Closed in 1957 (merged into Unity)
Siren	Siren, WI	Public	145	Dragons		1940[1]	1955[9]	Independent	Lakeland
Webster	Webster, WI	Public	295	Tigers		1940[1]	1953[6]	Upper St. Croix Valley	Lakeland
Somerset	Somerset, WI	Public	470	Spartans		1947[5]	1955[7]	Dunn-St. Croix	Middle Border

Membership timeline