(September 2005)
Paraphrased from the book The Story of McLean County and Its Schools by William Brigham (1951)
and articles from issues of the Lexington Unit Journal and the 1955 Centennial Program Book
"Usually the public schools serve as the standard by which a town is judged and this newspaper can with pride point to the excellence of work done within the brick walls of Lexington's public school buildings. Good schools speak volumes for the intelligence and advancement of a community, and it is an important point to every person seeking a new home with his family to know that it is a place where they can educate their children, and the tendency of the community is such as to make them the best men and women."
Quoted from January, 1893 Lexington Unit Journal and still true today!
Early settlers, who came to the groves of McLean County from pioneer settlements in other states in the 1820’s and 1830’s, needed some form of schooling for their children. Subscription, or private, schools were soon opened in log cabin homes, with parents willing to pay a set amount for the education of each child, often taught by young men or women with only a year or two more schooling than the pupils they taught. In 1825 the Illinois Legislature passed a law to establish free schools, but the law was opposed and finally repealed, because pioneer citizens were not in favor of a tax to provide education for other people’s children. After 1837 the Illinois State School Fund was created by collecting the interest on sales of public lands. Also in each township the sale of and income from the 16th section of land comprised the Township School Fund. These small amounts could be bolstered by local taxation if approved by voters. In most instances, only a part of the cost of maintaining schools was thus raised, so early log cabin schools were built by personal contributions, and they not only housed the school but were used for religious meetings and neighborhood gatherings. Pioneers deserve much praise for creating these early schools in McLean County.
Population in McLean County boomed in the 1850’s. New laws provided for school districts and school boards with local power to levy taxes, build buildings, and hire teachers. In most settlements and small villages of the county the numbers of students demanded investments in multi-room elementary schools and often separate buildings to house the high school. But in the rural areas distant neighbors pooled resources to provide a one-room school within walking distance of most children. In a few years new one-room school buildings dotted the landscape of our entire county. Many new state education laws set restrictions on distributions of moneys, standards for buildings and equipment, teacher qualifications, and courses of study and the one-room schools thrived for 50 years.
Book photo of Wilson School in Money Creek Township
Though one-room schools were serving adequately to educate children and provide a center of neighborhood social life, consolidation of rural schools was frequently discussed in the early 1900s. Muddy roads for many years prevented any possible transportation to distant centers even if larger units were organized.
Book photo: Illinois Black Mud hampered travel in 1922.
In 1945 state law forced a study committee into existence in McLean County to survey the 230 one-room schools for reorganization. Findings showed many schools with small numbers of children, teacher shortages, and buildings in need of extensive repair. School consolidations followed, and many small village schools joined with surrounding rural schools to form unit districts to include grades one through twelve. Transportation by school buses on vastly improved county roads was an important key to the success of the reorganizations.
book picture of 1950's era bus
Many unused one-room buildings were sold at public auction, so that today all but a few of the little one-room schoolhouses have vanished—torn down, moved away, or been remodeled as a dwelling and often unrecognizable as a former school.
2005 photo of former Cross Roads school in Lexington Township.
Money Creek Township Schools
Bishop School: The first school in Money Creek was a double log cabin built in 1837 on the north bank of Money Creek in the southeastern part of Section 29. In 1868 the school was rebuilt on the southwest corner of Section 29, where the Towanda Township Road Quonset shed now sits, just west of Bishop Cemetery.
Frog Alley School: Built first in the 1860’s east of the railroad at the south side of Section 27 and named for the location’s low, swampy area. The land was drained and now provides some of the richest farming land in Illinois. Rebuilt in the 1890’s, the old Frog Alley School location is now the home of the Scot Grunloh family.
Hefner School: Established in 1890’s, and rebuilt in 1908 with a basement and proper lighting it was called the “finest frame school building in the county.” It is located 80 rods from the west side of Section 14 on the south side of the old Bloomington-Chicago Trail. The old school is now the modern home of the Andrew Klein family.
2005 photo of remodeled Hefner School
Trimmer School: First built in 1856, moved in 1868, and destroyed by fire in 1883, the new school was located in Section 20 of Money Creek. It was completely remodeled in 1914 to include a library, kitchen, basement, indoor toilets, a stoker, and indirect lighting. The schoolhouse was sold in 1949 to the Township, to be used as the Money Creek Town Hall and Community Center for meetings and a polling place. The township auctioned it in 1999, and the old school is now a private home.
Wilcox School: (see picture near top of article) Built on the hill in the early 1850’s and rebuilt after the Civil War, the school was named Wilcox after the father-in-law of A.A. Stewart and the location was near the present day farms of the Stewart family near Lake Bloomington.
Olive Branch: Built northwest of Clarksville in 1877 on the prairie and named for the efforts to quell fighting between the woodland children and the prairie children from two nearby schools, Buck Creek and Franklin, that joined together at this new site.
Franklin School: Built on the Noah Franklin farm in 1856 and later moved to the Fort Clark Road and used off and on as a schoolhouse until 1941, it was always located on Franklin land.
Lexington Township Schools
City Schools: A crude log school in the woods south of town served for several years until school was held in a building near the park and public square as early as 1844. Then came East Primary, West Primary, and Anderson High School which was held in a building downtown. Lexington High School was established in 1858, with A. J. Anderson as the first principal, and by 1865 was housed in the first brick high school southwest of the city park where Mark Anderson’s new house was recently erected. Parts of the old school remained until the 1970's.
Lexington's first brick High School on South Street
In 1896 a larger schoolhouse was built for just over $20,000 on the block at Cherry and Wall Streets, the present school location. It had classrooms on the first two floors and a gymnasium on the third floor.
1896 First school on the Cherry and Wall Streets site.
An adjoining school on the east side of the block was dedicated in 1913. In 1914 fire destroyed the elementary building on the west half of the block. In 1914 came the Lincoln Grade School and it was used until it was condemned after a tornado in 1974.
Lincoln Grade School
The athletic field was built in 1935 and in 1942 an excellent gymnasium and vocational rooms were added to the school complex. The present high school on the south side of the block was added in the 1960’s.
The current grade school and larger gymnasium were erected in 1980. Repairs after a fire in 2002 remade Lexington High School into a like-new facility.
Popejoy School: First built on the southwest corner of Section 19 in Lexington Township on Popejoy land, the school was destroyed by fire in 1937 but replaced the same year. No building remains, but the site was one mile east of the House of Payne.
Horney School: Originally known as Sugar Creek School in the 1840’s until a new school was built nearby in 1866 on the south side of Section 29 in Lexington Township. No building remains at that location today.
Adams School: Built by a pioneer, Matthew Adams, on the North side of Section 34 and burned in 1941. No building remains at that site.
Mt. Gilead School: Located on the southeast corner of Section 26 and named by the teacher who was from Mt. Gilead, Ohio. Its location is about a quarter mile from Mark Freed’s house and is still occupied today.
2005 photo of Mt. Gilead School
Pleasant Hill School: This was the first school in Lexington Township originally built in 1832 at the Patton Settlement. By 1857 the school was a 2-story building located on the SW corner of the village of Pleasant Hill and called the “Academy.” By 1890 a new building was constructed and was one of the largest one-teacher schools in the County.
Cross Roads School: Originally known as Johnson School the present site was purchased in 1872 for $50. The new modern brick veneer building was built in 1928 at the Northeast corner of Section 9 in Lexington township, and is now a pleasant, modern home platted to Jeff Alexander. (see photo near top of article)
Crumbaker School: Named for William Crumbaker who lived across the road to the east, this school was built in 1867 and remodeled in 1890 at the center of the east side of Section 14. The building is still there but the trees have almost hidden the school building and it looks to be in need of some TLC.
Prairie Hall School: First built in 1855 on the open prairie ˝ mile north of the southwest corner of Section 1 of Lexington Township by the Lindsay family. They often had to plow furrows around the building to keep prairie fires away from it. It was used by the community not only as a school, but as an all-purpose meeting building. It was replaced in 1906, but it burned in 1947. It would have been located near the present day Roseman home.
Lexington Schools from Lawndale, Chenoa, and Gridley Townships
Lawndale School: The school was built in the center of Section 11 of Lawndale Township and is now the Lawndale Township Town Hall. It joined the Lexington district in 1948.
Leonard School: Built 40 rods from the south side of Section 18 of Lawndale Township on land given by Patrick Leonard. The school population was divided between Colfax and Lexington at consolidation in 1948. The site is located about 1 mile south of Henry Redding’s place.
Buck Creek School: A frame building on boulders, was located in the 1850’s in the SW corner or the NE forty acres of Section 34 of Gridley Township south of the bend of Buck Creek . In 1888 the site was moved one-half mile northwest on the W side of the road. It was known as one of the best equipped schools in the county. This school was divided between Gridley and Lexington in 1948. The building was purchased by Bill Klein and redecorated for future homecomings.
Payne School: Built in 1867 and remodeled in 1919 it was always kept in excellent condition. Located on the north side of Section 31 in Chenoa Township it was consolidated into Lexington school district. The building is now the home of Skip Schott.
2005 photo of Payne School
Ballard School: Named after the Ballard train station this school was built in 1865 and it would have been located near the tall telephone towers north of Lexington. It was moved several times and we are unsure if parts of it remain in the area. The Ballard school was divided between Chenoa and Lexington in 1948.
Enterprise School: Many landowners donated school sites, but those in this district, evidently, did not feel that the school was necessary. In 1867 $25 dollars would have been a fair price, but the 2 acres at the northeast corner of Section 19 for the school site cost the district $200, making it a real Enterprise! It was the first school in the township to be improved and standardized, but the old building burned in 1947 and the district was divided between the Chenoa and Lexington districts.
History is disappearing right before our eyes as these old schools are lost. We hope this has rekindled some memories and might help you recall those “good old days.”
Photo from book: Enterprise School in 1931