District Timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1791 | Pierre Grignon employs James Porlier to teach his children. |
| 1820 | The “first of Wisconsin’s schools” is located on the west shore of the Fox River around Fort Howard. Families pay tuition. |
| 1836 | Daniel Whitney constructs a frame building to be used as a schoolhouse and town meeting hall called the “Yellow Schoolhouse.” |
| 1856 | The first city-owned school, the Sale School, opens. Known as “Old Brick,” the school is located on land donated by John Jacob Astor at what is now 523 Howe Street. |
| 1868 | Original Howe School opens. By 1871, a high school is established. Dousman School opens in the Fort Howard community. |
| 1871 | The Pine Street Schoolhouse and the Whitney School open. |
| 1875 | First formal high school commencement ceremony in Green Bay occurs with the graduation of six students. |
| 1878 | Grammar B (the Hen Coop) moves to the high school grounds. This building is condemned within a few years. Nellie Richardson is the first high school graduate from the Dousman School (Second Ward School) . |
| 1882 | Third Ward School opens in the Fort Howard District. South School opens (also known as the Fifth Ward School), located on the corner of 5th and Oakland Avenue. |
| 1884 | Original Mason School (located on the corner of East Mason & Irwin) opens. |
| 1885 | Sale School is remodeled and used exclusively as a high school (Green Bay High School). The district also opens a school for the deaf, which is attended by eight students. |
| 1889 | Woelz School opens. Originally is called East River School, located on the corner of Cedar and Willow Streets. In Fort Howard, the Mather School opens as a one-room first grade school. |
| 1890 | In Fort Howard, the McCartney School opens and houses the high school program. It is located on the northwest corner of South Ashland Avenue and School Place. This is the old West High building until 1910. |
| 1893 | East Side High School opens, located on the corner of Chicago and Webster Avenue. Because the school is known as “the school on the hill” the students were called “hilltoppers.” The red sandstone at City Stadium is rumored to have come from this school when it was is torn down. |
| 1895 | Green Bay and Fort Howard districts consolidate. Part of the agreement states the west side should continue to have its own high school. |
| 1896 | The original Tank School opens. |
| 1898 | The original Elmore School opens on the corner of Vroman and Elmore Street. Also, a new Mason School opens and replaces the original Mason School. |
| 1903 | The original Chappell School opens. |
| 1905 | East and West High Schools compete against each other in football for the first time. |
| 1907 | The original one-room Jackson School opens. In Preble, Summit School on Route 2/Humboldt Road opens. |
| 1909 | West High School opens a new facility on Shawano Avenue. |
| 1911 | West side eighth graders are placed into the McCartney School (the old West High School). This is the forerunner of a junior high in Green Bay. Green Bay’s first girl’s basketball team is started at West High School. |
| 1912 | Norwood School opens at 1306 S. Norwood Avenue. Also, the newly constructed Howe School opens at its current site. Green Bay Education Association is founded. |
| 1914 | Green Bay’s first junior high school opens in Howe School. |
| 1915 | Preble School District opens Oak Grove School. |
|
1917 |
Whitney School opens at 215 North Webster. This building is now used by Bellin Hospital. The Allouez School, located at 116 West Allouez Avenue, is opened by the Allouez District. |
| 1918 | Lincoln Elementary School opens at its current location 1105 Shawano Avenue. |
| 1919 | Mrs. Lee Blood founds the first Parent-Teacher Association Council in Green Bay. |
| 1924 | A new East High School opens at its current location of 1415 East Walnut Street. The East River was originally called the Devil River – this early name may have been the origin of the East High School mascot, the Red Devils. The old East High School on Chicago and Webster is converted into a junior high school. In Preble, Finger Road School on Route 2/Finger Road is opened. |
| 1925 | Green Bay Packers start playing their games at City Stadium, located behind East High School. |
| 1928 | A new West High School opens at its current location, 966 Shawano Avenue. Jefferson Elementary School also opens at its current location on 800 Phoebe Street. |
| 1931 | Fort Howard Elementary School opens at its current location, 520 Dousman Street. Roosevelt School replaces the second Mason Street School at 1305 East Mason Street. |
| 1934 | Franklin D. Roosevelt School, located on 1823 Farlin Avenue, is opened by the Preble District. |
| 1938 | A new Jackson Elementary School opens on Ninth Street and Ridge Road. The original one-room school house is torn down. |
| 1939 | Washington Junior High School opens at its current location of 314 South Baird Street. Nicolet Elementary School opens at its current location of 600 North Irwin Avenue. Also, a new Elmore Elementary School and Tank Elementary School open and replace their original buildings. |
| 1942 | The Green Bay High School Band is disbanded and each high school sponsors their own program. |
| 1950 | A new Chappell Elementary School opens and replaces the original building. |
| 1955 | Preble School opens at 241 South Danz. The building houses both the junior and senior high programs. |
| 1956 | Danz Elementary is opened by the Preble District on 2130 Basten Street. The Allouez District opens Webster Elementary School, located at 2101 South Webster. |
| 1957 | District offices are moved out of Sale School into City Hall. Sale School is torn down. Wequiock Elementary School is opened on Route 1/Gibson Road. Wequiock is a consolidation of three small rural school districts: Ridge View, the Mount Mae School, and Benderville. |
| 1958 | Franklin Junior High School opens on West Mason Street. |
| 1959 | Beaumont Elementary School opens on Gatewood Street. |
| 1960 | Eisenhower Elementary School is opened by the Preble School District. |
| 1961 | School Board changes name of He-Nis-Ra School to Porlier. |
| 1963 | Langlade Elementary School is opened by the Allouez School District at 400 Broadview Drive. |
| 1964 | Southwest High School, a secondary facility housing grades 7-12, opens at 1520 South Point Road. |
| 1965 | The district annexes the Allouez School District, bringing in Webster, Allouez, and Langlade Schools. Later in the summer, it also annexes the Preble School District, and with it Summit School, Oak Grove Elementary School, Finger Road School, Franklin D. Roosevelt Elementary School, Preble Junior-Senior High School, Danz Elementary School, and Eisenhower Elementary School. The consolidation makes the district the fourth-largest in the state. Wequiock petitions to join the district. Kennedy Elementary School opens on 1754 Ninth Street. |
| 1966 | Green Bay is selected as one of first sites for the Head Start program. |
| 1969 | Baird, Martin, and MacArthur Elementary Schools open in their current locations. The three elementary schools are similar with their “open concept” classrooms. |
| 1970 | Edison Junior High School opens at its current location of 442 Alpine Drive. |
| 1971 | Keller Elementary School opens as a two-story open concept school at its current location of 1806 Bond Street. |
| 1972 | Southwest High School opens at its current location of 1331 Packerland Drive. The old Southwest is renamed Lombardi Junior High. Doty Elementary also opens at its current location at 525 Longview Avenue. The Board of Education approved a girls’ interscholastic athletic program. |
| 1974 | District purchases former UW-Green Bay property and opens Anne Sullivan Elementary at 1567 Deckner Avenue. Oak Grove School is closed. |
| 1977 | Franklin D. Roosevelt School is closed. District offices are moved to current location (old Vocational Tech School) at 200 South Broadway. |
| 1979 | Roosevelt and Whitney Schools are closed. |
| 1980 | Norwood School is closed. |
| 1986 | School boundaries are redrawn to send a portion of Allouez students to Southwest. Junior high schools are reformatted as middle schools. |
| 1990 | Laura Ingalls Wilder Elementary School opens at 2590 Robinson Avenue. |
| 1991 | Christa McAuliffe Elementary School opens at 2071 Emerald Drive. King Elementary School opens at 1601 Dancing Dunes. |
| 1994 | Aldo Leopold Community School moves from Allouez School into new location at former St. Joseph’s Academy, 622 Eliza Street. |
| 1998 | Wequiock Elementary opens at its new location of 3994 Wequiock Road. |
| 1999 | Red Smith School opens at 2765 Sussex Street. |
| 2007 | Early Learning Center, a 4K and 5K school, opens at 312 Victoria Street. |
| 2011 | The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme at West High School is launched in March. The Institute for the Fine Arts at East High School is launched in September. John Dewey Academy of Learning, Green Bay's first charter school, opens in September; JDAL emphasizes project-based learning. |
| 2012 | School Within A School model for Gifted and Talented Education opens at Langlade Elementary with 72 students in grades 2-6. |
| 2013 | The International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme at Chappell Elementary is launched in March. The International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme at Franklin Middle is launched in June. School Within A School for gifted and talented students is recognized as a school of its own by the Department of Public Instruction in August, and the District purchases a separate building for the school in October. Friedrich Froebel Garden of Early Learning, a 4K and 5K school, opens at 3542 Finger Road in September. Webster Elementary becomes Webster Elementary Children's Center for Integrated Arts. |
| 2014 | Leonardo da Vinci School for Gifted Learners opens at 139 South Monroe Avenue. Dr. Rosa Minoka-Hill School opens at 325 North Roosevelt Street. Bay Link Manufacturing, a high-precision manufacturing learning lab at West High School, opens for business. Bay Link Manufacturing is a partnership between the Green Bay Area Public School District, Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, and the NEW Manufacturing Alliance. |
| 2015 | The District expands the automotive technician lab at East High to form City Stadium Automotive. Bridges Construction & Renovation program at West High School expands. |
| 2017 | Head Start Learning Center opens at its new location, 1150 Bellevue Street. |
| 2018 | Washington Middle School opens the Washington Middle School for the Arts. Wequiock Elementary becomes Wequiock Elementary School Children's Center for Environmental Science. Howe Elementary becomes Howe Elementary Community School. |
| 2019 | Early Learning Center closes at the end of the 2018-19 school year. Northeast Wisconsin School of Innovation opens at 701 Cherry St. John Dewey Academy of Learning moves to 701 Cherry St. A new Baird Elementary School opens at the same address, 539 Laverne Drive. |
| 2020 | Jefferson Head Start opens at the old Jefferson Elementary School building in the 2020-21 school year, 905 Harrison Street. |
| 2021 | GBAPS Online School (4K-5) opens in the 2021-22 school year. |
| 2022 | GBAPS Online School (4K-5) is renamed to Katherine Johnson Academy of Enriched Virtual Learning. |
| 2023 | Northeast Wisconsin School of Innovation and Northeast Wisconsin Technical College (NWTC) leaders signed a new agreement on May 18 to establish a long-term partnership. This means N.E.W. School of Innovation will be housed on the NWTC campus through at least 2028. N.E.W. School of Innovation relocated to NWTC in the fall of 2022. |
| 2024 | Keller Elementary School, Tank Elementary School, Wequiock Elementary School, and JDAL Online close at the end of the 2023-24 school year. |