Rochester Public Schools Revenue and Competitors

The Rochester School District has evolved over time. Starting out in the 1800's, the District began as a one-room schoolhouse named the Phelps School, which was eventually rebuilt and renamed as the Edison Building. Responding to the expansion of Rochester the District has grown by leaps and bounds and is now the sixth largest district in the state of Minnesota. Included in this section are a few facts and photos from the history of our District. Much of this information was taken from the 2001 annual report entitled Excellence Past & Present and the 2004 annual report entitled Elements of Excellence, both assembled by the Communications Office. Be sure to browse through the Photos and stroll through some of our history. District-wide The District started the 2004-05 school year with 16,275 students. This group is being educated by 2,100 dedicated District employees including teachers, maintenance workers, clerical staff, student nutrition staff, administrators, and other support staff. Three high schools, four middle schools, sixteen elementary schools, and other programs and services form the modern-day community of Rochester Public Schools. Like most school systems, it came from humble beginnings. In 1929, a booklet commemorating the Rochester Diamond Jubilee included a description of the first school in the city:"In 1856 came Rochester's first school. The school was built of crude logs on the corner of Second Avenue and Fifth Street Southeast. It had eight windows and was about twenty by thirty feet." The first teacher was instructed to "Teach them what you know and let the rest go." In 1868 the original Central School was built to be used as both a grade school and high school. This school cost $75,000, contained four stories, two towers, sixteen rooms, and furnace heat. One tower was eventually destroyed by a tornado, and the fourth story and remaining tower were consumed by a fire in 1910. Another Central was built in 1925 for $330,000 and served as Rochester High School. The Rochester community has a rich history of showing pride and support for its schools. In 1956, IBM presented a letter to the School Board stating that an important factor in building an IBM plant here was the excellent school system. Two months later bids were taken for the construction of John Marshall High School, which opened in 1958. Today, community members continue to contribute to the achievement of students. In 2001, the community approved a levy to support valuable District programs such as reading intervention programs. In addition, during the last school year 3,535 residents volunteered 68,400 hours in the District. In 2004, the District moves forward with the vision of "Lifelong Learning for All." The District educates not only elementary and secondary students, but also community members: the Community Education enrichment program had 33,310 registrations by Rochester residents during the 2003-04 school year. A similar vision was included in the District's 1918 Report to the Board of Education: "The responsibility of its public schools is not limited to the traditional courses, but recognizes any activity which makes for better citizenship and more efficient manhood and womanhood." District Buildings Rochester has evolved continuously since a family of settlers came to a wide-open prairie and built a clay hut for their home in 1854. Broadway was created for the first time by a team of oxen dragging a large log through the brush. The original Central School took up an entire city block, surrounded by Zumbro Street on the south side, Prospect Street on the west, Fourth Street on the north, and Franklin Street on the east. In 1950 the Mayo Building was built on this site. The Phelps School was a one room school house, one of the first school buildings in the Rochester Public School System. Phelps School was rebuilt in 1915 and renamed as the Edison Building. Now the Edison building contains the District's administrative offices. The Coffman Building, completed in 1912, was used for secondary students. It was eventually attached to Central through an underground tunnel. The building continued to evolve; housing the junior college through the 60s, a junior high until 1982, and District offices until 1983, when it was purchased by Mayo Clinic. This is now the site of the Ozmun Building. As the population of Rochester grew, additional schools were built and rebuilt. The first Holmes school was constructed in 1896. A new Holmes school was completed in 1921. Located on East Center Street, it was used as an elementary school until 2002, when it was sold to the Rochester Boys and Girls Club. In 2001, more than 500 Holmes and Hawthorne students joined together to open the District's newest school, Riverside Central Elementary which was built for a cost of $12,990,000. In 1871, six students made up the first graduating class of Rochester Central High School, which opened its doors to over 700 school-age students on November 3, 1868. The year 1900, was a landmark year at this school, with a graduating class of 21 it was deemed impossible for all students to present individual essays at the commencement. Today the District's three high schools combined with several alternative diploma programs graduated 1,247 seniors in the class of 2004.