Park Rapids youth have attended school at many locations. This school was built in the late 1880s. The original school and an addition are viewed here across a city park where Hugo's Family Marketplace is now. The first section of the school burned in 1938.

The first school in Park Rapids opened in the summer of 1882. It was held in the front room of a harness shop. The next year, the first dedicated school building in town was built where the Armory now stands.

Just across Park Avenue from that first schoolhouse, the block between Second and Third Streets was a part of Park Rapids' education history for over a hundred years. The land was deeded to the school district in 1886. Draftsman and contractor T. C. Myers drew up the plans for the new school in 1887. Community members could not believe that such a large building was needed, but it quickly filled up and an addition was constructed in 1900. Only ten years later a separate high school building was added to the site.

To keep up with the booming population, the high school had a substantial addition in 1928. The complex was in use until 1938, when a large fire destroyed the older portion. A new building was constructed replacing the oldest parts of the complex, and classes moved in to start school in January 1940. A gymnasium was added to the school complex in 1955.

By the 1960s, the high school was pressed for space. In 1970, a new high school was built at a site on the west edge of town and this building became the Park Rapids Middle School. Following construction of the Century School in 2001, this site was left without a school in operation for the first time in 115 years. It was then purchased and redeveloped into the apartments you see today.

Park Avenue So. & 3rd St.
Park Rapids, MN 56470

Open Site Location on Google Maps
46.92003677560146, -95.05768071718472