Indian Trails Conference
The Indian Trails Conference is a high school athletic conference with its membership concentrated in southeastern Wisconsin. Originally founded as a conference for small public high schools in 1963, it has seen a high level of turnover among membership over the course of its history and now has mostly private school members.
History
1963-1969
The Indian Trails Conference was formed in 1963 by four local public high schools, one state-run public high school and one private high school. The four local public schools were former members of the Southeastern Wisconsin Conference, and the two others competed as independents after their former conference, the Southern Wisconsin Association of Private Schools Conference, disbanded in 1961. The Indian Trails Conference would compete in this configuration for six years, which to date has been the longest period of stability for conference membership.1969-1980
The late 1960s and early 1970s marked a transition for the Indian Trails Conference from a conference with mostly public high schools to one with mostly small private high schools. In 1969, Clinton and Palmyra left the Indian Trails Conference to join the Central Suburban and Eastern Suburban Conferences, respectively. They were replaced by three private schools: Brookfield Academy, Rockford Lutheran and The Prairie School in Wind Point. Williams Bay left to follow Palmyra into the Eastern Suburban Conference in 1970, and were replaced by Divine Word Seminary in East Troy. St. Joseph Seminary in Edgerton joined in 1971, and Rockford Lutheran left the following year to join the Northwest Seven Conference in Illinois. They were replaced by Ethan Allen School for Boys, a reform school in Wales, in 1973. Brookfield Academy left to join the Classic Conference in 1976 and were replaced by Maranatha Baptist Academy in Watertown, who has to date been the conference's longest tenured member. The Prairie School followed Brookfield Academy to Classic Conference membership in 1977, and in 1979, St. John's School for the Deaf in St. Francis joined the Indian Trails Conference.1980-2004
The 1980s brought continued instability for Indian Trails Conference membership. St. Joseph Seminary left the Indian Trails when they closed their doors in 1980, followed by Norris Foundation in 1982 after they dropped interscholastic athletics. St. John's School for the Deaf was closed by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee in 1983 after running at a deficit for several years made operation of the school unsustainable. In 1986, Messmer High School in Milwaukee, which had returned from nearly closing two years prior, joined the Indian Trails Conference, and there would be a short period of membership stability that lasted until the 1990s. Changes occurred on a somewhat regular basis during this decade, the first of these was the addition of Alden-Hebron High School in Illinois and Calvary Baptist Christian School in Sun Prairie to the conference in 1990. They replaced Wisconsin School for the Deaf, who left to join the Southern Wisconsin and Illinois Small Schools Conference as full members. The Indian Trails Conference lost Divine Word Seminary when it was announced that they would cease operations in 1991. Calvary Baptist School in Menomonee Falls and Waukesha Christian Academy joined the Indian Trails in 1993, replacing Messmer after their exit to join the Midwest Classic Conference. In 1994, Wayland Academy in Beaver Dam joined as full members after years of splitting boys and girls athletics between the Indian Trails and Midwest Classic Conferences. The next year, Northwestern Military & Naval Academy would merge with St. John's Military Academy in Delafield, with their successor taking St. John's place in the Midwest Classic Conference. Wayland Academy left to return to the Midwest Classic Conference in 1996 and were replaced by two schools: Beloit Catholic and Valley Christian in Oshkosh. Union Grove Christian joined the next year and were followed by Rock County Christian of Beloit in 1998. The next year, Victory Christian School in Neosho would replace Valley Christian after their exit, and membership subdivided into North and South Divisions:| North Division | South Division |
| Calvary Baptist | Alden-Hebron |
| Calvary Baptist Christian | Beloit Catholic |
| Ethan Allen School for Boys | Rock County Christian |
| Maranatha Baptist Academy | Union Grove Christian |
| Victory Christian Academy | Waukesha Christian Academy |
The Indian Trails reformed as a single division after one year of this alignment and welcomed Grace Christian Academy of West Allis into the conference that same year. They replaced Beloit Catholic, who was closed by the Madison diocese in 2000. In 2001, Reuther Central High School, a public alternative high school in Kenosha, joined the Indian Trails Conference. Two years later, Calvary Baptist Christian in Sun Prairie would leave the conference with Rockford Christian School in Illinois taking their place.
2004-2021
In 2004, the Indian Trails Conference split its eleven members into Blue and Gold Divisions:| Blue Division | Gold Division |
| Alden-Hebron | Calvary Baptist |
| Ethan Allen School for Boys | Grace Christian Academy |
| Kenosha Reuther Central | Rock County Christian |
| Maranatha Baptist Academy | Union Grove Christian |
| Rockford Christian | Victory Christian Academy |
| Waukesha Christian Academy |
The near-annual turnover of conference membership continued in 2005 with Victory Christian Academy leaving the conference and Parkway Christian Academy in Milwaukee joining from the SWISS Conference as a replacement. Waukesha Christian Academy would leave the conference the next year and were replaced by the return of Wisconsin School for the Deaf, who were displaced by the ending of the SWISS Conference. In 2007, four former SWISS Conference members would enter the Indian Trails Conference: Berean Christian School and Keith Country Day School of Rockford, Faith Christian School out of Williams Bay and University Lake School in Delafield. Trinity Academy in Pewaukee also joined the conference, and this was the divisional alignment for its sixteen members after the merger:
| Blue Division | Gold Division |
| Alden-Hebron | Calvary Baptist |
| Berean Christian | Grace Christian Academy |
| Ethan Allen School for Boys | Parkway Christian Academy |
| Faith Christian | Rock County Christian |
| Keith Country Day | Trinity Academy |
| Kenosha Reuther Central | Union Grove Christian |
| Maranatha Baptist Academy | University Lake School |
| Rockford Christian | Wisconsin School for the Deaf |
Christian Liberty Academy in Arlington Heights and Mooseheart Academy joined the Blue Division in 2008 as full members, but their stay in the conference was short lived. In 2009, the six Illinois-based schools in the conference would all leave, and five of those schools would join the newly created Northeastern Athletic Conference, a conference sponsored by the Illinois High School Association. Additionally, Parkway Christian Academy in Oak Creek closed its doors, bringing membership in the Indian Trails to eleven schools. Because most of the exiting schools were all members of the Blue Division, further conference realignment was made necessary with Calvary Baptist and University Lake School moving over to the Blue Division:
| Blue Division | Gold Division |
| Calvary Baptist | Grace Christian Academy |
| Ethan Allen School for Boys | Rock County Christian |
| Faith Christian | Trinity Academy |
| Kenosha Reuther Central | Union Grove Christian |
| Maranatha Baptist Academy | Wisconsin School for the Deaf |
| University Lake School |
2010 saw the addition of Eastbrook Academy in Milwaukee and Mountain Top Christian Academy in Horicon join the Blue Division of the Indian Trails Conference. The next year, Ethan Allen School for Boys was closed by the Wisconsin Department of Corrections and juvenile facilities were moved to Lincoln Hills School, just outside of Merrill in the northern part of the state. Mountain Top Christian Academy would move to the Gold Division in 2012 to accommodate the entry of Salam, an Islamic school in Milwaukee, into the conference. St. Anthony High School in Milwaukee joined the Blue Division in 2013, and Early View Academy joined the Gold Division in 2014. They replaced Trinity Academy, who ended their stand-alone athletic program and entered into a cooperative agreement with nearby University Lake School. In 2016, Calvary Baptist and Salam would exit the Indian Trails Conference, and were replaced by Tenor/Veritas, a cooperative athletic program between two charter schools in Milwaukee. Eastbrook Academy also moved to the Gold Division that year, and in 2017, Mountain Top Christian moved to the Blue Division. Two schools joined the conference in 2018: Academy of Excellence and Chesterton Academy, both out of Milwaukee. They replaced Union Grove Christian, who left the Indian Trails Conference in 2018. From 2018 to 2021, the alignment of schools in the Indian Trails Conference featured an imbalanced format with the Blue Division having more schools than the Gold Division:
| Blue Division | Gold Division |
| Academy of Excellence | Chesterton Academy |
| Faith Christian | Early View Academy |
| Kenosha Reuther Central | Eastbrook Academy |
| Maranatha Baptist Academy | Grace Christian Academy |
| Mountain Top Christian | Rock County Christian |
| St. Anthony | Wisconsin School for the Deaf |
| Tenor/Veritas | |
| University Lake School/Trinity Academy |