Location of Original Dunn-St. Croix Conference Members
The Dunn-St. Croix Conference was formed in 1930 by eight small high schools in western Wisconsin: Baldwin, Boyceville, Downing, Elk Mound, Glenwood City, Hammond, Roberts and Woodville.[1] The conference was named after the two counties (Dunn and St. Croix) that all eight original member schools were located in. Elk Mound left the conference in 1931 for membership in the Little Eight Conference,[2] and the next year, Dunn County Agricultural School and Elmwood became Dunn-St. Croix Conference members.[3] Elk Mound returned to the Dunn-St. Croix in 1937 after the Little Eight Conference was folded,[4] and the ten member schools subdivided into eastern and western divisions:[5]
The Dunn-St. Croix Conference's two-division alignment lasted until 1944, when Downing High School was closed and redistricted to Glenwood City.[6] In 1949, the ledger further shrunk to seven schools, as Baldwin and Glenwood City exited for membership in the Middle Border Conference.[7]Prescott joined the Dunn-St. Croix Conference in 1951 to bring membership back up to eight schools,[8] and a ninth school was added in 1955 when Somerset became members after being displaced from the Northwest Border Conference's closing.[9] In 1956, Elk Mound became members of the Cloverbelt Conference,[10] and Plum City joined from the Bi-County League in 1957[11] to replace Dunn County Agricultural School after its closing.[12]
In 1960, the high schools in Hammond and Roberts were combined to form the new St. Croix Central High School, inheriting their predecessors' place in the Dunn-St. Croix Conference.[13] The next year, Woodville was merged with Baldwin, and the newly minted Baldwin-WoodvilleArea High School inherited Baldwin's Middle Border Conference membership.[14] They were replaced by Arkansaw from the West Central Conference[15] and Elk Mound from the Cloverbelt Conference,[16] with the latter making their return to the Dunn-St. Croix after a five-year absence. Arkansaw's time in the Dunn-St. Croix Conference would be short-lived, as they returned to the West Central Conference in 1964.[17] The conference accepted two new members in the second half of the 1960s, with Pepin joining from the West Central Conference[18] and Colfax moving over from the Middle Border Conference.[19] The 1970s began for the Dunn-St. Croix Conference with the exit of Prescott to the Middle Border Conference[20] and two new schools joining in 1972: Glenwood City and Spring Valley.[21] Both incoming schools came from the Middle Border with Glenwood City making its return to the conference after its exit in 1949. Membership remained stable for five years until 1977, when Somerset exited for membership in the Upper St. Croix Valley Conference.[22] They were replaced by two former members returning to the Dunn-St. Croix: Arkansaw (West Central)[23] and Prescott (Middle Border).[24]
By 1988, two Dunn-St. Croix members based in Pepin County (Arkansaw and Pepin) saw enrollment dwindle to levels that would make further athletic competition unsustainable.[25] The two schools entered into a cooperative agreement under the Pepin/Arkansaw banner that year,[26] an arrangement that would last until Arkansaw was folded into Durand's school district in 1992.[27] Two years later, Somerset made their return from the Upper St. Croix Valley Conference and Mondovi joined from the Middle Border Conference.[28] In 2002, Prescott and Somerset both ended their second stints in the Dunn-St. Croix Conference when they both joined the Middle Border Conference.[29] The Dunn-St. Croix Conference lost Pepin as members in 2009 when they entered into a cooperative athletic partnership with Alma and joined the Dairyland Conference.[30] Elmwood and Plum City consolidated their athletic programs in 2014, with both schools staying in the conference.[31] In 2016, St. Croix Central traded affiliations with Durand-Arkansaw, with the latter entering from the Middle Border Conference.[32] The membership roster has remained stable since 2016, until Elk Mound makes their exit to rejoin the Cloverbelt Conference for the 2025-26 school year.[33]
