# Milwaukee City Conference

The Milwaukee City Conference (also known as "City Conference") is a high school athletic conference in Wisconsin. All full-time member institutions are located in the city of Milwaukee and are members of the Milwaukee Public Schools system.

## History
### Founding and Early Years (1893-1929)

The Milwaukee City Conference was founded in 1893, when Milwaukee opened a second public high school (South Division) and regular athletic competition was established between East Division and South Division High Schools. The conference added a third member in 1894 when West Division High School opened and expanded to five in 1906 when Boys Technical and Trade High School (now Bradley Tech) and North Division High School opened. By 1920, the conference had added three more schools in Washington (1911), Bay View (1914) and Lincoln (1920). During this time period, the City Conference established themselves as a dominant force in track and field, taking the team title in twenty-five WIAA competitions between 1895 and 1929.

### Annexation-Driven Growth (1929-1966)

The City Conference added a ninth member in 1930, one year after the village of North Milwaukee was annexed into the City of Milwaukee. The village had its own high school prior to annexation, and after North Milwaukee High School was absorbed into MPS it became Custer High School in order to avoid confusion with North Division. Three new high schools were built in consecutive years in the 1930s as Works Progress Administration projects: Juneau (1932), Pulaski (1933) and Rufus King (1934). All became members of the City Conference after opening. Membership remained stable at twelve schools until the 1960s. John Marshall High School was opened as a combination junior/senior high school on the city's north side in 1961, and two high schools were added in 1966 as a direct result of annexation: James Madison High School in the former town of Granville and Alexander Hamilton High School in the former town of Greenfield. Granville already had its own high school at this time, and when their district lost territory due to annexation, it became Brown Deer High School.

### Realignment and Name Change (1966-1993)

In 1979, Lincoln High School closed and Harold S. Vincent High School opened on the city's far northwest side as a replacement. In the years prior, realignment of the high school athletic conferences in southeastern Wisconsin was discussed extensively, driven mostly by the WIAA's desire to get the high schools in Racine and Kenosha into a larger conference after they were forced out of the Big Eight Conference in 1970. The five-member South Shore Conference was created as a result, and competition lasted for ten years before its dissolution. Two members of the South Shore (Kenosha Tremper and Racine Park) joined the City Conference, and four of the City Conference's smaller members joined the Suburban Conference (Juneau, Riverside, Rufus King and West Division). Due to the expansion of the conference's geographic footprint, the conference was briefly known as the Milwaukee Area Conference. The newly renamed conference made a slight adjustment in 1983 when Kenosha Bradford joined from the Braveland Conference to replace Racine Park after their exit to the Suburban Conference. The high schools in Kenosha left the MAC in 1985, taking four schools on the south side of Milwaukee with them (Bay View, Hamilton, Pulaski and South Division) and rejoining with the Racine high schools to form the Big Nine Conference. During that same year, the four high schools who left for the Suburban Conference rejoined after it was realigned out of existence, and the MAC changed its name back to the Milwaukee City Conference. The four south side Milwaukee high schools in the Big Nine did not want this realignment and threatened to sue the WIAA to rejoin the City Conference. Bay View, Hamilton, Pulaski and South Division all rejoined the City Conference in 1993.

### Present Day (1993-present)

With the City Conference made whole again after the 1993 realignment, new schools continued to join the conference after they opened. Milwaukee School of Languages and Wisconsin Conservatory of Lifelong Learning joined in 2000 and 2001, respectively. Malcolm X Academy joined the City Conference in 2003 and left when it closed four years later. Solomon Juneau High School closed in 2006, reopening in 2012 as MacDowell Montessori School (the athletics program still competes under the Juneau banner). Reagan College Prep High School in the former Town of Lake took its place in 2007. Three more school openings rounded out the membership of the City Conference: Carmen in 2014, Golda Meir in 2017 and Audubon Tech in 2022.

## Conference Membership History
### Current members

| School | Location | Affliation | Enrollment | Mascot | Joined |
| Audubon Tech | Milwaukee, WI | Public | 420 | Cardinals | 2022 |
| Bay View | Milwaukee, WI | Public | 966 | Redcats | 1914, 1993 |
| Bradley Tech | Milwaukee, WI | Public | 954 | Trojans | 1906 |
| Carmen Northwest | Milwaukee, WI | Charter | 382 | Eagles | 2014 |
| Golda Meir | Milwaukee, WI | Public | 594 | Owls | 2017 |
| Hamilton | Milwaukee, WI | Public | 1,475 | Wildcats | 1966, 1993 |
| High School of the Arts | Milwaukee, WI | Public | 1,023 | Crimson Stars | 1894, 1985 |
| Juneau | Milwaukee, WI | Public | 233 | Pioneers | 1932, 1985, 2012 |
| Madison University | Milwaukee, WI | Public | 713 | Knights | 1966 |
| Marshall | Milwaukee, WI | Public | 811 | Eagles | 1961 |
| North Division | Milwaukee, WI | Public | 382 | Blue Devils | 1906 |
| Obama SCTE | Milwaukee, WI | Public | 756 | Cougars | 1930 |
| Pulaski | Milwaukee, WI | Public | 1,248 | Rams | 1933 |
| Reagan Prep | Milwaukee, WI | Public | 1,366 | Huskies | 2007 |
| Riverside University | Milwaukee, WI | Public | 1,235 | Tigers | 1893, 1985 |
| Rufus King | Milwaukee, WI | Public | 1,284 | Generals | 1934, 1985 |
| School of Languages | Milwaukee, WI | Public | 596 | Hawks | 2000 |
| South Division | Milwaukee, WI | Public | 1,109 | Cardinals | 1893, 1993 |
| Vincent | Milwaukee, WI | Public | 973 | Vikings | 1979 |
| Washington | Milwaukee, WI | Public | 432 | Purgolders | 1911 |
| Wisconsin Conservatory of Lifelong Learning | Milwaukee, WI | Public | 210 | Wizards | 2001 |