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In 1998, the sprawling campus that was Sibley Junior High, Sibley High School, and Frances M. Grass Junior High was torn down. All that remains now are a few old buildings, fields, and memories.
We explore these various West St. Paul schools in a 7-part series as part of our member drive.
The Schools
It started with Sibley Junior High School in 1936 on the southwest corner of Bernard and Bidwell Streets, but by the 1950s a sprawling complex was added that became Sibley Senior High School. In 1960, Frances M. Grass Junior High School was built to the west of the high school gym. In 1971, the high school moved to Mendota Heights and the new Henry Sibley High School. By 1997, the school district opened two middle schools to replace Grass, Heritage to the east of Grass and Friendly Hills in Mendota Heights.
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Demolition
After Heritage Middle School opened in November of 1997, Grass Junior High and Sibley High School were torn down in the spring of 1998:
(Photo credit: Jim Rosvold and Dakota County Historical Society).
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All That Remains
The only remnants of Sibley High School are the gym and pool buildings and Matson Field.
- Gym: Originally built in 1952, the gym (known as the “red gym” to Sibley alums) was showing its age by the early 2000s and needed some major work to fix shifting walls that left cracks in some places.
- Pool: Added in 1970, the pool needed serious repairs and closed in 2020. The space was converted to an additional gym (known as the multipurpose room) and classroom space, and the district’s pool moved to the new aquatic center on Delaware Avenue next to Two Rivers High School as part of the 2018 bond improvements.
- Matson Field: Named for Charles Matson, a Sibley coach, teacher, and athletic director, the field hosted football games from the 1950s through 2018. In 2019, games moved to the new Warrior Field at the high school in Mendota Heights as part of the 2018 district-wide improvement projects approved by voters.
- Outdoor classroom: Between the gym and the pool building is an outdoor courtyard space created when the pool building was added on to the gym. It’s accessible by doors, but there aren’t any windows and the casual observer wouldn’t even know it’s there. In 1994, teacher Terry Doud started using the space to grow a garden and conduct simple science experiments. Ducks have been known to nest in the space. Today students grow plants in the outdoor classroom and a giant tortoise hangs out there when the weather is nice.
Learn More
Read our full seven-part series on the history of Sibley schools:
- Part 1: Overview
- Part 2: Sibley Junior High
- Part 3: Sibley High School
- Part 4: Grass Junior High School
- Part 5: Henry Sibley High School
- Part 6: Heritage Middle School
- Part 7: Demolition and What Remains
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