Jefferson Lighthouse Elementary School (Racine, Wisconsin)

Jefferson Lighthouse Elementary School is an elementary school, serving kindergarten through grade five, located at 1722 West Sixth Street in Racine, Wisconsin, built in 1899. Part of the Racine Unified School District, Jefferson Lighthouse is an IB World school, alongside RUSD's West Ridge Elementary School, Starbuck Middle School, and Jerome I. Case High School. The school is surrounded by West Sixth Street on the south, Cliff Avenue on the west, Maple Street on the north, and Jones Street on the east. As of 2019, the school has 502 enrolled students.

History
In August 1898, the Racine Board of Education investigated the city's Fifth Ward grammar school building, which was said to be in dangerously poor condition. While the investigation showed that the building was structurally sound, in February 1899, the city engineer announced plans to construct a new school building for the fifth ward. Construction on the new building was said to "be pushed as rapidly as possible", and work on excavating the foundation began on April 20. In May, mistakes in the original plans were discovered, and a special session of the Racine city council on May 22 determined that correcting these errors would cost up to $500.

On July 3, Alderman Austin proposed naming the new building Jefferson School. Later that month, ninety pounds of lead piping was stolen from the construction site and sold to "the junk shop of Mr. Falkenberg, corner of Grand avenue and Sixth street," where it was recovered by police. Alonzo J. Winnie was chosen to be the school's first principal on September 29. The school first opened to students on October 30, 1899.

By the end of 1899, Jefferson had a total enrollment of 391 students. Superintendent Estabrook reported in January 1900 that the building's floors and furniture, as well as the clothing of teachers and students, were becoming covered in soot because of problems with the furnace and ventilation system.

Principals

 * Alonzo J. Winnie, 1899-