The Winchester State Graded School was built around 1910 by the Turtle Lake Lumber Company for the benefit of their employee’s children. It was one of two schoolhouses in Winchester, the other being near Birch lake. All materials for the building were harvested and milled locally by the Turtle Lake Lumber company. The building has two rooms, one was for the older student class room and the other for the younger class room, it also had an outhouse behind it. It was used for over 50 years before it closed. Since 1985 it has been functioning as a public library.

When the Turtle Lake Lumber Company built its company town they named it after its main investor, Walter Winchester. The lumber company had this building built and hired staff for it around 1910. Prior to this, children were taught by Anna Buck at the Divide Resort from about 1902 until the school opened. The school provided an education to area children in grades first through eighth. One room was for grades first through fourth and the other was fifth through eighth. For further education, students needed to travel to Mercer, Minocqua, Ironwood or Wausau. The school property exchanged hands a few times after the Lumber Company sold off its assets and was eventually donated to the town.

Former students frequently mention the close relationship pupils and instructors had. Being a small town, the children in the teachers class room were also their neighbor's children and children of the teacher's friends. Mary McDonald remembered counseling a boy who felt insecure about being adopted. Wally Engle never allowed anyone to drop out or skip school. Alumni attest to his ability to hunt down, find delinquents and sometimes physically drag them back to class in ways that would be problematic in the modern era. Mrs. Carrow touched the lives of her students at every school she taught at. Community participation was also very important and easy for the teachers in the small town of Winchester. The whole community turned out for events like Christmas pageants and graduations, even when there was only one graduate. Transportation to and from school was provided as well as fresh lunches everyday.

In 1940 the school near Birch Lake closed, leaving the Winchester Schoolhouse the only functioning school in town. The Winchester State Graded School continued to function into the mid 1960’s when school consolidation occurred. Once the school closed, the town found other uses for the building. It was used as a community center, storage and even an ambulance garage. Known teachers here included; Bertha Adkins(Principle Circa 1917), Mrs. McDonald (1920-1922), Jess Laundrie (circa 1938), Mrs. Dodge (1959-1960), Mr. Balstad (1963), Mrs. Carrow (1961-1966), Mr. Armstrong (1963-1966) and Mr. Engle(1940-1953). 

In 1985 citizens from the Women's Civic Club transformed one room of it into a public library. The first librarian being Lorraine Wentworth. In 2015 renovations were done to restore the original schoolhouse aesthetic. This effort done by a mix of private contractors and volunteers, some of whom were former students. Today it still functions as a library and community center. The library provides educational events for residents of all ages and is the center of the local historical preservation effort. Past librarians include; Lorraine Wentworth 1985-1992, Barbra Bull 1992-2005, Cela McGinnis 2006-2014, Cythia Guzman 2014-2017.

The current Library Director is Betty Forster who started in 2017. In 2020, during the height of the pandemic, students came to the building for school again. Many school aged kids utilized the free, reliable and high speed internet to attend class remotely, take tests and study while social distancing. Today it is the center of local historic preservation efforts. Winchester residents both seasonal and permanent attest to this building being the heart of its community for over 110 years.

Eagle River News (Eagle River) January 1st, 1917. , Local News sec.

Notes from interview with Helen (McGlinn) Schmidt conducted by Elizabeth Gerhardt August 25, 1989

Notes from interview with Lila Brunell conducted by Elizabeth Gerhardt September 25, 1989

Notes from conversation with Connie (LaHa) Ghiloni and Anne Wilson by Blaze Burton September 1, 2023

Letter to Marge Engel from Margaret Boisin July 10 1997

Winchester State Graded School Board Meeting Minutes housed in Winchester Public Library

Laabs, Joyce. "Helen Schmidt, Lifelong Winchester Resident." Lakeland Times August 22nd, 1977. .Pages 1&3.ts