Northwest Border Conference

The Northwest Border Conference is a former high school athletic conference comprising small public high schools along the St. Croix River in northwestern Wisconsin. The conference existed from 1940 to 1955, and all member schools were affiliated with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.

History

The Northwest Border Conference was founded in 1940 from a split of the ten-member Upper St. Croix Valley Conference. The five smallest schools in that conference, joined with Siren to form the original six-member roster. Members were located in Burnett and Polk Counties, and all but one were located along Wisconsin Highway 35. After only two seasons in the conference, Milltown returned to the Upper St. Croix Valley Conference in 1942, leaving the conference with five members. That same fall, the Northwest Border Conference began sponsorship of eight-player football with all members participating. Luck followed Milltown back to the Upper St. Croix Valley Conference in 1947 and were replaced by Somerset that same year, though they didn't join for football until the next year. The Northwest Border Conference competed as a five-member loop until Webster rejoined the Upper St. Croix Valley in 1953. Solon Springs, who competed as an independent for other sports, was a football-only member of the conference for its final two seasons. The conference continued with four members until its dissolution in 1955. Somerset immediately joined the Dunn-St. Croix Conference upon their exit, while Balsam Lake, Centuria and Siren became independents. All three schools eventually joined the Lakeland Conference: Balsam Lake and Centuria in 1956 and Siren in 1959.

Membership timeline

Full members

DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1940 till:1955
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5
Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb
id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
PlotData=
width:14 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:m
bar:1 color:tan1 from:1940 till:1955 text:Balsam Lake
bar:2 color:tan1 from:1940 till:1955 text:Centuria
bar:3 color:tan1 from:1940 till:1947 text:Luck
bar:4 color:tan1 from:1940 till:1942 text:Milltown
bar:5 color:tan1 from:1940 till:1955 text:Siren
bar:6 color:tan1 from:1940 till:1953 text:Webster
bar:7 color:tan1 from:1947 till:1955 text:Somerset
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:1940

Football members

DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1942 till:1955
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5
Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb
id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:m
bar:1 color:lavender from:1942 till:1955 text:Balsam Lake
bar:2 color:lavender from:1942 till:1945 text:Centuria
bar:2 color:lavender from:1946 till:1955 text:
bar:3 color:lavender from:1942 till:1947 text:Luck
bar:4 color:lavender from:1942 till:1955 text:Siren
bar:5 color:lavender from:1942 till:1953 text:Webster
bar:6 color:lavender from:1948 till:1955 text:Somerset
bar:7 color:lavender from:1953 till:1955 text:Solon Springs
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:1942