PARK HIGH'S BELL
Bob Reiss, from the Re-Echo, Spring 2004

St. Louis Park's first high school was Lincoln High, built in 1890.  In those days, when you built a school, you included a bell to call the kids to class.  Early pictures show a bell tower on the rear west side of the school.  How and when the bell was used is not clear.  Primary students who attended classes in this building do not recall the bell being used.

Lincoln was used as the high school until a "new" high school was built on Walker Street in 1914.  After the high school students moved, the Lincoln High building was used as an elementary school until 1938.  Whether the bell was used in unknown but it did remain in place.

In 1938, the school board added a third new high school next to the existing one on Walker Street.  The older high school became the junior high and the Lincoln building became surplus.  It was sold to the Village of St. Louis Park and became Village Hall.

The bell apparently did not get sold with the building.  After the new Central High was completed, the bell was mounted on a pedestal outside the main entrance.  In the 1940s and 1950s, no Echowan yearbook would have been complete without without a picture of the current cheerleaders gathered around the bell.

When the current high school was built on Dakota Ave. in 1957, the bell seemed to have disappeared.  Eventually, it was found in the pond on the Interlachen golf course. It was returned to the Park and put in a locked case inside the new school.  Hopkins was not going to steal it again.  The bell remains in the high school by the front door.  It was moved after the last remodeling to ensure a position of prominence and safety.



 

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This information comes from a variety of sources: newspapers, books, yearbooks, phone directories, interviews, etc. Given the varied sources, we cannot guarantee that all of this information is correct, and welcome any additions and corrections. Please contact us with your contributions and comments.