Cities have famous dates. Chicago: October 8, 1871. The Great Fire. San Francisco: April 18, 1906. The Great Earthquake. Lanesboro has one, too: March 23, 1917. The Church Hill Fire. Church Hill today is a tranquil place offering the best view in town. But on that early spring night, people in Lanesboro looked up at it with wide-eyed fear.
When this town was built in the 1860s, construction quickly started on this high bluff. What people built revealed their values: churches and schools. The Presbyterian Church was here by 1869 (twenty years later it became Bethlehem Lutheran). St. Patrick’s Catholic Church was completed by 1873, built with local limestone and a bell from New York City that still rings clearly today. The classic steeples of these two churches gave this Hill its name and the town a picturesque focal point.
In 1870 the Old Stone School was built, serving scores of students mostly from Norwegian and Irish immigrant families eager to learn English. A second school, Lanesboro High School, was added a decade later.
On March 23, 1917, flames erupted from a lightning strike and quickly spread. Volunteers rushed to fight the blaze with little success. Both schools were destroyed; only walls were left standing at Bethlehem Lutheran. Luckily, St. Patrick’s escaped any damage.
In a wonderful display of community spirit, clean-up and construction crews showed up within days to begin re-building. A new Lanesboro School—the three-story brick structure you see here today—welcomed students within two years. (Various locations in town became temporary classrooms during the interim). Bethlehem Lutheran was holding services at this location within a year.
Two years after the 1917 disaster, another fire—also attributed to lightning--damaged the school’s top floor. Once again residents rallied and repairs were made. Generations of Lanesboro elementary students would continue their daily hike up Church Hill until 1990, before joining upperclassmen in the new K-12 school building constructed near Sylvan Park in 1960. Today this Church Hill school building, now a privately-owned condominium, stands proudly, filled with memories of small-town values, scary nights, and inspiring community spirit.