Custer High School (Milwaukee)

Custer High School was a public high school located at 5075 North Sherman Boulevard in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The name of Custer High School dates to the early 1930s when it was located at what is the now closed Thomas A. Edison Middle School. The original school, located at N. 37th and W. Custer Avenue was named Custer High School after the city of Milwaukee annexed neighboring North Milwaukee in 1929. By the 1950s, the post-WWII baby boomer generation reached high school age, and the need for another school became clear. School officials agreed to the construction of a new Custer High School building on North Sherman Boulevard in 1955, and the old school was renamed Edison Junior High School. The new school's principal was Raymond F. Michalak, former principal at Milwaukee North Division High School. Michalak was interested in kids with exceptional academic abilities, and began a new program for academically gifted kids at Custer High School, even writing a paper about it titled “A Program for High-School Youth of Superior Ability.” By 1960, Custer High School had 2,200 students enrolled in grades 10–12. Michalak served as Principal until 1969 when he retired.