NC Heritage & Hall of Fame

The Birth of North County

In the Fall of 1967, the Bonne Terre and Desloge school districts consolidated into the North St. Francois County R-I School District. After much consideration by the two administrations and votes submitted by both student bodies prior to the merge, a decision was made on the new North County mascot. The Bonne Terre Bulldogs traded in their red & white collars and the Desloge Tigers swapped their black & gold stripes for blue & gold armor to become the North County Raiders!

As a large, united new school family, the old district buildings were re-branded with the North County monicker. Desloge High School (currently North County Middle School) transitioned to become North County High School while, similarly, Bonne Terre High School (currently Bonne Terre City Hall) became North County Junior High. The other district buildings attended by elementary students would continue serving their respective Bonne Terre and Desloge NC students in their hometowns. For many years, students would not meet their neighboring city classmates until they blended student bodies at the junior high/middle school level and later -- more recently -- in younger grades at the NC Intermediate building. Finally, after a long time coming in 2007, the North County elementary schools were reorganized to bring all district students together beginning at the kindergarten level in order to form the current educational centers we have today as North County Primary and North County Parkside Elementary.

After more than fifty years, the North County School District continues its standard of excellence by strongly pushing forward educating students today who will lead us into tomorrow! Once stepping foot into Raider Country, it is easy for one to see how we "Just Can't Hide That Raider Pride!"