Location of Original Heart O'North Conference Members
The Heart O'North Conference (also known as the Heart o' the North Conference in its early years) was formed in 1928 by ten small- to medium-sized high schools in northwestern Wisconsin: Barron, Bloomer, Cameron, Chetek, Clayton, Cumberland, Ladysmith, Rice Lake, Shell Lake and Spooner. One year later, the league added New Auburn and Turtle Lake to its roster, bringing membership up to twelve schools. Football was also added as a sponsored sport, with six schools (Barron, Bloomer, Cumberland, Ladysmith, Rice Lake and Spooner) comprising the initial roster. In 1934, membership in the Heart O'North was cut in half after the exit of the six non-football members (Cameron, Chetek, Clayton, New Auburn, Shell Lake and Turtle Lake). Five of these schools joined with Clear Lake and Weyerhaeuser to form the Lakeland Conference. The six remaining schools continued for twelve years before Hayward was admitted as the Heart O’North's seventh member in 1946. Chetek's return to the conference from the Lakeland Conference in 1957 increased the membership ledger to eight schools, a level it would remain at for seventeen years. In 1974, Northwestern High School in Maple joined the Heart O'North Conference after their longtime membership in the Michigan-Wisconsin Conference ended the year prior when the organization ceased operations.
1989-present
After Northwestern joined the Heart O'North in 1974, the conference continued with a nine-member roster for fifteen years, until Bloomer and Rice Lake left in 1989. Bloomer joined the Middle Border Conference, and Rice Lake became members of the larger Big Rivers Conference as an all-sport member (they had previously been football-only members since 1986). After five years in the Middle Border, Bloomer rejoined the Heart O'North Conference in 1994. That same year, the Heart O'North briefly ended football sponsorship to join the Northwest Football League along with members of the Middle Border and Dunn-St. Croix Conferences. This arrangement would last for two seasons, after which the conference resumed sponsorship of interscholastic football. Membership remained stable until 2010, when Chetek High School merged with Weyerhaeuser High School of the Lakeland Conference to form the new Chetek-Weyerhaeuser High School. The new school inherited Chetek's place in the Heart O'North Conference. In 2019, Cameron rejoined the Heart O'North after leaving the conference eighty-five years ago to help form the Lakeland Conference, which they were still members of at the time of their exit. Two years later, the Heart O'North Conference accepted two new members and bid farewell to a longtime member. Bloomer exited the conference for a second time in 2021, this time to join the Cloverbelt Conference. Ashland and St. Croix Falls became Heart O'North members that same year; St. Croix Falls joined from Lakeland Conference and Ashland were previously members of the Minnesota-based Lake Superior Conference. Chetek-Weyerhaeuser left the Heart O'North in 2025 to join the Dunn-St. Croix Conference and were replaced by outgoing Lakeland Conference members Unity.
Football-only alignment
In February 2019, in conjunction with the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association, the WIAA released a sweeping football-only realignment for Wisconsin to commence with the 2020 football season and run on a two-year cycle. For the first cycle, Hayward and Ladysmith left the Heart O'North football roster to join the Great Northern Conference and Lakeland Conference, respectively, as associate football-only members. This alignment would remain in place through the 2022-2023 competition cycle. In 2024, Hayward made their return to the Heart O'North's football group, joined by Ashland after their exit from the Great Northern Conference. They replaced outgoing members Cameron and Chetek-Weyerhaeuser after their exit to associate membership in the Lakeland Conference for football. There are no changes planned for the conference's football roster during the 2026-2027 cycle.
