Heritage committee in La Crosse campaigns to give Lincoln Middle School “landmark” status

Lincoln Middle School in La Crosse will end its century-long existence at the end of August as a public school building but new uses may be developed soon.

Members of the city’s Heritage Preservation Commission placed Lincoln on their newest list of La Crosse’s Top 10 most endangered buildings.

“If the building was listed as a local historic landmark, that would add a step” to any efforts to reuse the long-time school, commission chair Mackenzie Mindel said.

Commission members added that preserving the old brick school from the 1920s would be less costly than trying to put up a new building of the same design and materials.

The last day of classes for La Crosse’s Lincoln Middle School is Friday, though the building will officially close Aug. 31.

The La Crosse School District voted months ago to close Lincoln to save money, after a referendum for a new high school was voted down in November.

The future of Lincoln has not been decided yet, though the district held multiple public meetings taking ideas from the public on what to do going forward with the building.

“Even if the school is closing, it doesn’t mean that we have to lose the place that so many people find just out their back door or in the neighborhood itself,” Mindel said while speaking to reporters outside Lincoln this week.