Hamilton School was born out of the Crystal Lake School, often referred to as the Little Red School, which sat in what is now the southwest corner of Webber Park. That area was Crystal Lake Township at the time that little schoolhouse was built. It was also listed on some maps as Hennepin County School District No. 26. The school eventually became part of the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) and is listed as Hamilton School (it had only two rooms and two teachers) and being on Shingle Creek in a 1888 MPS manual, as well as the 1888 city directory.
In 1889 Minneapolis Public Schools built the two-story brick Alexander Hamilton School a few blocks to the west, at Girard and 44th Aves N. Additions were made to the building in 1899, 1908, 1911 and 1925. It started as a 1st through 7th grade school and then became K-8th grade until Patrick Henry Junior High was built in 1927 at which time it became K-6th grades.
In the mid-1950s Hamilton school had over 800 students per year which then dropped to 484 in 1958 with the opening of Shingle Creek School. When the Minneapolis Public Schools did a “Planning for the Future” assessment of all its facilities in 1963, it determined that the Hamilton School building needed extensive improvements to meet the current educational, health and safety standards. The decision was made to construct a new building on a larger site. In 1972 the Hamilton Manor apartment building was built on the site of the old Hamilton School.
The new Hamilton School was built in 1967 on a full block site between Emerson and Dupont, from 41st to 42nd. This new school opened in the fall of 1968. There was a grand dedication on November 3, 1968. Superintendent John B. Davis was the main speaker; along with Hamilton Principal Oliver C. Olson; Henry Principal Albert B. Schultz; chair of the board of education Rev. David W. Preus; the pastors from North Methodist, Salem Lutheran and St. Bridget’s churches; and PTA officers. This new Hamilton had 15 classrooms for grades K-6, and another 10 special education classrooms that were especially equipped for hearing impaired students. This new building also had a large gymnasium, multi-use lunchroom and a center garden courtyard.
In the spring of 1982 Hamilton school was closed along with a number of other schools. The building was then leased out to a number of people and organizations including an employment office, food shelf, a daycare, a probation officer, the Minneapolis teacher’s union, and the Camden News. In the wake of school closings in 1982, other schools became very over crowded. After two years of overcrowding at Loring, the school district decided to move seven classrooms of students into the Hamilton school building for the 1984-85 school year. It was considered one school (Loring) at two sites. Parents of the students in those seven classrooms at the Hamilton site were upset that their children were in a building with all sorts of adults coming and going with no type of security. The district finally broke all those leases, and in the fall of 1985 Hamilton School re-opened as a K-3rd grade school.
In 2005 the Minneapolis School Board again decided to close some Northside schools. At first the plan was to close Loring School but after a few months and some very contentious meetings, the decision was made to close Hamilton School once again. The Hamilton building is currently home to the Minneapolis Police Department’s Special Operations Center. The athletic fields still remain, as well as the playground, which was remodeled a couple years ago. The Special Operations Center is also home to the Police Activities League which is coming back after being shut down for the past couple of years. So while it’s no longer a school, the Hamilton site still has connections to community kids.