Schools in Downtown Duluth, Minnesota
Part of the Downtown Duluth neighborhood guide. Back to the full guide.
Downtown is inside Duluth Public Schools (ISD 709), but it is the wrong district to make assumptions in. Downtown addresses sit close to the central-corridor boundaries, published maps are ambiguous in this part of the city, and addresses near the Lake Avenue line have been assigned differently in different years. Confirm the specific unit with the district rather than relying on any map, including this one.
The nearest public elementary is Myers-Wilkins at 1027 North 8th Avenue East, roughly a mile up the hill in the East Hillside, enrolling about 329 students from prekindergarten through grade 5 (NCES Common Core of Data 2024-2025, accessed 2026-08-14). The likely middle and high pathway from downtown runs west to Lincoln Park Middle School at 3215 West 3rd Street, about 606 students, and then Denfeld High School at 401 North 44th Avenue West, about 951 students. Duluth East High School at 301 North 40th Avenue East, about 1,495 students, is listed here because the boundary is close enough that it has to be checked.
Downtown does have a school inside it, but not an attendance-area one. The Duluth Area Learning Center operates at 11 East Superior Street with about 35 students in grades 6 to 12, alongside the district's Academic Excellence Online and ALC Independent Study programs at the same address. These are application programs serving students across the district, and they should not be read as a neighborhood school.
Private options are all outside the district. Marshall School, the independent non-sectarian college-prep school at 1215 Rice Lake Road, is about twelve minutes up the hill. Stella Maris Academy, Duluth's consolidated Catholic academy, runs campuses east and west of downtown. Private schools are not covered by Minnesota Department of Education report card data, so this guide does not rate them alongside the public schools.
For higher education, downtown is well placed: the University of Minnesota Duluth and the College of St. Scholastica are both about ten minutes up the hill, and Lake Superior College is about the same to the west.
The central-corridor elementary at 1027 North 8th Avenue East, about a mile up the hill in the East Hillside, and the closest public elementary to downtown.
The west-side middle school at 3215 West 3rd Street, about eight minutes west.
The west-side high school at 401 North 44th Avenue West.
The east-side high school at 301 North 40th Avenue East, listed because the central-corridor boundary is close enough to downtown that assignment must be checked per address.
The district's alternative learning center, at 11 East Superior Street inside downtown itself, alongside the district's Academic Excellence Online and ALC Independent Study programs at the same address. It is an application program, not an attendance-area school.
Independent non-sectarian college-prep school at 1215 Rice Lake Road, about twelve minutes up the hill.
Duluth's consolidated Catholic academy, with campuses east and west of downtown.
Higher education nearby: University of Minnesota Duluth, College of St. Scholastica, Lake Superior College.
Schools next door
Directly across Interstate 35 and connected by the Lake Place lid and the skywalk, the tourism and lakefront district with the region's other flat-ground condominium market.
Central HillsideImmediately up the hill, downtown's own residential neighborhood, with conventional housing at some of the lowest prices in the city.
East End / EndionNortheast along the lake, historic housing with lake views and a walk or short ride into the district.
Lincoln ParkWest about six minutes, the Craft District, with the city's fastest-changing commercial street and its lowest prices.
Park PointSouth across the lift bridge on Minnesota Point, the sand-beach neighborhood whose residents pass through downtown to reach everything.