The Midwest Prep Conference is a former high school
athletic conference
An athletic conference is a collection of sports teams which play competitively against each other in a sports league. In many cases conferences are subdivided into smaller Division (sport), divisions, with the best teams competing at successively ...
in competition from 1940 to 1983. Consisting entirely of
private school
A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...
s, most were located in
Wisconsin
Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
and had membership in the
Wisconsin Independent Schools Athletic Association
The Wisconsin Independent Schools Athletic Association is a former organization for high school athletics in Wisconsin. Consisting entirely of private schools, it was formed in 1968 and completed a merger with the Wisconsin Interscholastic At ...
.
History
1940–1952
The Midwest Prep Conference began play in 1940 as the Wisconsin Prep Conference with five private high schools in southeastern Wisconsin. Three were located in the
Milwaukee
Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...
area (
Lutheran High,
Milwaukee Country Day, and
Milwaukee University), one in Watertown (
Northwestern Prep) and one in Beaver Dam (
Wayland Academy).
in
Lake Geneva
Lake Geneva is a deep lake on the north side of the Alps, shared between Switzerland and France. It is one of the List of largest lakes of Europe, largest lakes in Western Europe and the largest on the course of the Rhône. Sixty percent () ...
had a brief stint in the conference from 1945 to 1949,
and was replaced by
Racine Lutheran High School
Racine Lutheran High School is a private religious high school located in Racine, Wisconsin. It is associated with the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod. Founded in 1944, the school has an enrollment of about 340 students.
Academics
Christian ...
in 1950.
1952–1964
In 1952, the Wisconsin Prep Conference added two schools to bring the membership roster to eight. Both schools were located in
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
(
Lake Forest Academy
Lake Forest Academy (also known as LFA) is a co-educational college preparatory school for boarding and day students in grades 9 through 12. The school is located on the North Shore (Chicago), North Shore in Lake Forest, Illinois, United States ...
and
North Shore Country Day School
North Shore Country Day School is an independent school in Winnetka, Illinois. It took its current form as a coeducational school in 1919 during the Country Day School movement, though it started as the Rugby School for Boys (1893-1900) and Girto ...
in
Winnetka). With the addition of Illinois-based schools to the loop came a new name: the Midwest Prep Conference.
North Shore Country Day School's tenure in the conference would be brief, as they left in 1954.
The next year, Lutheran High School in Milwaukee was split up by the two