The building that generations of Tech alumni knew as their high school hasn’t disappeared—it has simply started a very different chapter. After Tech moved to its new location in south St. Cloud in 2019, the oldest portions of the familiar brick building near Lake George were preserved, renovated and transformed into St. Cloud City Hall. Today, former classrooms are offices, city business takes place where students once learned, and pieces of the old school remain intentionally visible throughout the building.

For more than a century, the original building grew along with Tech High School. The original South Building opened in 1917, followed by the North Building in 1938. As enrollment and school programs expanded, so did the campus: a technical wing and cafeteria were added in the 1950s, classroom and administrative space followed in the 1960s, and the gymnasium and swimming pool arrived in the 1970s. By the time the old campus closed in 2019, generations of Tigers had known somewhat different versions of the same sprawling school.

When Tech moved into its new building, the future of the old campus became a major community question. Ultimately, the City of St. Cloud chose to preserve the historic 1917 and 1938 portions and adapt them for a new purpose. City planning documents specifically identified preservation of the century-old brick façade and reuse of the historic building as priorities.

The renovation wasn’t designed to erase the building’s past. In fact, planners intentionally kept reminders that City Hall had once been Tech High School. During construction, classrooms became offices and some of the original lockers remained. One particularly fitting discovery came in the space that would become the City Council chambers: beneath carpeting was the original gym floor. It was restored and incorporated into the new chambers.

The City of St. Cloud moved its offices into the former Tech building in 2022. The newer portions of the old campus did not survive the transition. The former technical and cafeteria wing, west classroom additions, gymnasium and swimming pool were eventually demolished, while the historic sections remained.

Even the site’s newest additions acknowledge the connection between education and civic life. A public art installation created at City Hall in 2024 represents the building’s history and the relationship between its former role as a school and its present role in local government.

So while alumni can no longer walk into the building for English class, chemistry or morning announcements, a surprising amount of the old Tech is still there. The building that educated generations of St. Cloud students now serves the entire city—and, appropriately, continues to be a place where people gather, work and shape the future of the community.

For students who attended school in the Old Tech, City Hall may be worth another visit. You might even find that the office you’re visiting looks suspiciously like a classroom you once knew.