dakota prairie first became a new school district on july 1, 1993 when the school districts of the towns of aneta, mcville, michigan city, tolna, and unity of petersburg joined together. originally, there was the elementary school building in mcville, the junior high school building in tolna, and the high school building in petersburg. the middle school in tolna eventually closed down in an attempt to further centralize the district, and was moved to be part of the high school building in petersburg.