Lake Country School was established as an authentic urban Montessori school in June 1976 to answer the need for a Montessori pre-school and elementary school in the Twin Cities. It was the first Montessori school in Minnesota to offer a program for 9 to 12 year olds, and later, the first to include a Montessori junior high program. The school was founded by Pat and Larry Schaefer and opened through a grant from the O’Shaughnessy Foundation. The school began with seventy-two students in the rented school building at the Basilica of St. Mary in downtown Minneapolis. In July 1980 the school moved to 38th and Pleasant and rented the school building owned by Incarnation Parish.

In 1982 the LCS Board adopted the Long Range Planning Committee’s recommendation to find a permanent home for the school. A site selection process resulted in the purchase of the existing property in 1986, with plans for renovation and expansion. A Capital Campaign Committee led to the construction in 1987 of Children’s House classrooms and major renovations on the lower level. The final phase of the project was completed in 1989 with a new wing that includes the gymnasium, junior high space, fire corridors, research center, and office. A community celebration marked the opening of the new wing and renovations.

The 1995-96 school year was a year of celebration and honoring. Pat and Larry Schaefer, co-founders and co-principals of Lake Country School, stepped down from two decades of leadership in the twentieth year of the school, and the mantle of leadership was passed to Kathy Coskran. Many of the 1138 children who had attended Lake Country School returned to participate in the celebration events, which included an all-community parade and a giant 600-person spiral. Seven Winter Count alum parties were held in December and January, and the LCS staff created a quilt that hangs in the west stairwell that portrays the first twenty years of the school in a spiral of block prints. The twentieth year celebration was a quintessential Lake Country event – a community ritual with music, drama, dance, and heartfelt words of love, respect and joy.

The final touch of the year was the acquisition of a 160-acre farm in Dunn County, Wisconsin that represented a step towards the completion of the Lake Country Junior High program. In a school created around dreams and the vision of the future of the child, the addition of the Lake Country Land School at the end of the 20^th year was particularly fitting.

In 1997 in honor of their daughter and alumna Carly Fisher (12/4/78-6/8/95), former LCS parents Steve and Mimi Fisher donated the sculpture Montessori Vision by Alexander Tylevich that graces the main entrance to the school.

The same year the LCS Board adopted a five year Strategic Plan, and in the fall of 1998 the capital campaign For the Children was launched in order to renovate the elementary levels, establish the endowment, and build the Land School facilities. The renovation of the elementary levels took place over the summer of 1999, and the dedication of that space was part of the Wisdom Day celebration that year.

In 2003, thanks to the generous support of the I.A. O’Shaughnessy Foundation, Lake Country School broke ground on the Larry O’Shaughnessy Homestead at the Land School marking the beginning of the Junior High residency program. In the spring of 2004, Kathy Coskran retired as principal and Paulette Zoë was selected to take her place. Amidst drumming and song, the Lake Country School community gathered again to fill the air with words of love, respect and gratitude that celebrate life’s transitions and to strengthen our commitment to the work we do together on behalf of all children..

In the fall of that year, Lake Country received the largest single gift made to its endowment fund from the Drake-McLaughlin alum family, enabling us to add more support to families through our tuition assistance program. In addition, the Junior High program added a 9^th grade allowing Lake Country to offer a 3-year work cycle at every level of the school, a tenet of Montessori pedagogy. By the end of the school year, we had successfully completed our first year of Land School residencies and graduated our pioneer 9^th grade student. And as each new year approaches, the cycle continues with new children and families waiting at every door and the open arms of the community always there to welcome them in.

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