When Bishop Alexander McGavick came to Aquinas High School in 1922, he wanted to build a four-year Catholic high school in La Crosse to replace the two-year Catholic high school at Holy Trinity. By 1925, a building committee of Arthur Funke, Joseph Leinfelder, and John C. Burns had begun planning.

In 1927, the land for Aquinas High School was purchased from the Coleman Lumber Company. The architectural firm of Parkinson and Dockendorf drew blueprints, and Peter Nelson Construction Company built the school. The original wing, completed at a cost of $200,000 is a Tudor Gothic building trimmed in Bedford stone.

Aquinas High School was dedicated Sunday afternoon September 2, 1928, at 3 p.m. Bishop McGavick blessed the rooms. Two days after the dedication, 127 students were enrolled. Originally staffed by diocesan clergy and the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, Aquinas High School provided a well-rounded curriculum.

Blue and gold were chosen as school colors during an all-school assembly on September 17, 1928. On March 16, 1929, the girls first appeared in their official uniforms – navy blue serge dresses with white collars and cuffs.

In 1929, the first graduating class of Aquinas High School consisted of four girls. The number of students attending was 192, the same number that graduated in 1978.

During the 1930’s, students came to Aquinas High School from as far away as Bloomfield, Montana, Minneapolis, and Canada. The girls at this time used the south stairway, and the boys used the north.

The first intra-city football game on September 23, 1934, against Central, ended in a tie. The first game against Logan was October 26 of the same year. Some 2,000 people saw the first city football game to be played under the lights. Aquinas High School lost, 25-0.

The student council was organized on October 7, 1936. The bronze statue of Christ the King was erected and dedicated outside of Aquinas High School in May 1938, and the first Aquinas High School graduate to become a priest, Philip Leinfelder, was ordained in 1938.

Building renovations and additions kept up with the growing student body. The building was enlarged in 1931, when the wing along Cameron Avenue, including the chapel, food lab, and rooms 297, 208, 301, and 302, were added. In 1936, the Cass Street Wing was extended. It included guidance offices and rooms 215, 216, 309, and 310. The third addition included the old gym, tunnel, Cameron Street entrance, library, ERC, and rooms 311, 312, and 313. In 1954, the commons and rooms 201 through 206 were added.

In the 1980’s, an extensive renovation of the interior and windows of the main building was undertaken, and in 1992, the renovation was completed throughout the building as room was set aside for Aquinas Middle School, located in the second floor hallways and opened in 1992.

On May 9, 1996, Bishop Raymond L. Burke announced that D. B. and Marge Reinhart had donated $3 million to kick off a $7.3-million building campaign for the construction of Bishop Burke Hall. The new facility was built on the corner lot of West Avenue and Cass Street and included the Reinhart Athletic Complex, a 1,000-seat gymnasium, new locker room facilities, a weight room, and a multi-purpose wrestling room. Also, a new music complex with separate vocal and instrumental, as well as several individual practice rooms, was added. To accommodate growing enrollment, 10 new classrooms, two science labs, and a shared computer lab became part of this expansion project. Due to the generosity of more than 1,100 benefactors, the goal was reached, and on September 12, 1997, Bishop Burke Hall was dedicated.

On Monday, May 13, 2002, Bishop Raymond L. Burke dedicated the life-size bronze sculpture of Saint Thomas Aquinas to the Aquinas Schools that is located in front of the music complex, facing Cass Street. Bruce Thomas of Minneapolis, Minn., created the sculpture. Bishop Burke blessed the sculpture and then led a procession of friends, faculty, and students to the Reinhart Athletic Complex, where he thanked all those who worked so diligently on the sculpture since 1996.

The Aquinas Chapel underwent renovations in 2007 thanks to an anonymous donation of $15,000. A confessional, sacristy, and stained glass windows were added, and improvements were made to the lighting and new carpet. In 2008, Aquinas upgraded and enhanced its technology offerings. An anonymous $100,000 donation matched by the Aquinas Schools Foundation made it possible to purchase new desktop and laptop computers, two SMART Boards, LCD projectors, and numerous other hardware and software upgrades.

On September 9, 2008, Aquinas High School was named a National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education. Aquinas was given the prestigious honor for its academic excellence and ACT scores in the top 10% of the nation. Of 130,000 high schools in the nation, 320 were named National Blue Ribbon Schools in 2008, and Aquinas was one of only three private high schools to receive the honor.