Freeport High School - Polaris Yearbook (Freeport, IL)

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,:,,:1,,, MUSE? ' Q fax ,Q -, - Jxsx. 'bf flffqf Q E 1. J ll ig, J BH ,gl RESUM1-Ti OF FREHPORT HIGH SCHOOL QA Q CURRICULUM GROWTH 1: . Iljl N no phase of a school's existence is the progress of education so apparent as 1n f-qi t the growth of its curriculum. ply All From the year in which Freeport High School was started, until 1904, there I was but one course of stud , the colle e re arator course. There were few electives, f , ,Y 8 P Y ,, Ll all students takmg practically the same course. The number enrolled was less than W . . . . , , xy, three hundred, for whom the only obyective provided was preparation for college. N . N1 ff . . . . . 51 After 1904 more electives were introduced, and a new currlculum established. 1 Q . . . . 1:11 3 The first of these was manual training. Mechanical drawing was added later, it 1 while in 1906 classes in cooking and sewing-with one teacher in charge of both- 5- 'K were begun. l -4 . . . . . all if Since 1916, two years of home economlcs have been required of all girls. This gx 1 department now has four laboratories and four teachers, and more than three hun- W dred students. f rl X if Arts and crafts and free-hand drawing courses, then offered only two afternoons a week, have expanded to six classes a day, live days a week. ful A commercial department was added in 191O and automechanics with some work Jn pattern making was added by 197.0 Today our high school has a well equ1pped machine shop Plans are under was to include courses in wood and metal pattern making sheet metal and moulding The draftmg department now offers a four year course mcludlng mechamcal draw lng machlne drawing mach1ne deslgn and architectural drawing In 192.6 electromechanics was begun Better equipment and more room for th1s work are essential Electromechanics is rapidly becoming one of the most valuable vocat1onal courses The Freeport H1 h School Band of seventy p1eces and an orchestra of fortv are recognized as two O the best trained high school music organizations in the United States Phys1c1l education was begun in 1910 all students being required to take the trainin two days a week for two years Since the erection of the new building all stu ents are required to take physical education two days a week for four years The cafeteria offers another means of vocational training The llbrary which now has twelve thousand books was started 1n 1917 The courses for college preparation also have been enlarged to meet the increas ing demands of over one thousand students the largest number ever to attend Free port High School M F 30 1 - - 1 , , 1 - 11 , . - . . n l V fs .... . - . , . - an I s 7 9 a S Qi ' . l . 'g . . ' a. . . . 1. 21 f A A N . , .A 1 1 1 1 , . . O . is . lm ' . . .. . . Qu' , . - f A 5 - 1 - . s . , n l J . 1 , mln X Q5 A -A it , T - it Page E i gbtem

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71 1 ' O wx- 'LEYAAA EARLY SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS IN STEPHENSON COUNTY 1-:EN the early settlers came to Stephenson Countv between 1834 and 1840, one of the first conslderatlons was to provxde some sort of schools for thelr chlldren They could not erect ood school burldmgs lmmedxately and have publlc schools as we know them to av so of necessxtv the very fxrst classes were held 1n prlvate homes and later 1n small drafty log cablns In the Damascus D1str1ct school was held on the threshmg floor m Alvm Fuller s barn and at Wm slow the puplls studled 1n a loft over Hunt s wagon shop In thxs sparsely settled country rt was often practxcally 1mposs1ble for the pupxls to go the long distance to school 1n bad weather Th1s fact coupled w1th the d1fIieulty of heatmg the log cabm school houses made w1nter terms rare IH the earhcst years It was not untxl 1855 that a state law was passed prov1d1ng for free school supported by taxa txon Before th1s t1me the schools rn Stephenson County were supported by volun tary subscrrptlon and bv the sale of ubl1c land set 3S1dC by the government 1n the Ordmance of 1787 for the support o schools In the Eldorado School Dxstrlct the cxtxzens had placed a small tax on themselves for the salary of the teacher and the upkeep of the school A hlstory of Stephenson County was wrrtten ln 1880 when the author could still lntervlew old settlers and record their remmxscences In the two later county h1stor1es the materral about early schools rn our county was largely obtamed from the older book I w1ll mentron only brrefly the schools and teachers mentroned 1n these h1stor1es Mlss Jane Goodhue attempted to establlsh a school at Ransomburg about 1834 Th1s was a Town on aper located on the Pecaton1ca R1ver between the present towns of Wrnslow an McConnell As far as IS known Mtss Goodhue s was the first school started 1n what IS now Stephenson County In 1836 there was a school three mlles northeast of Cedarvxlle 1n Buckeye Townsh1p A school was opened 1n the summer of 1837 rn the home of Mr Trmms at Burr Oak Grove 1n Kent Townsh1p w1th W1ll1am Ensrgn as teacher The Txmms house had been buxlt by Kellogg ln 187.7 and then abandoned by hrm It was the second bu1ld1ng erected 1n the county and 1S famous for hav1ng been used as a shelter for soldlers 1n the Black Hawk War Nelson Martm my great great uncle opened the first school rn Freeport rn the fall of 1837 The school was sltuated on the bank of the Pecaton1ca Rxver not far from the foot of Mam Street 1n a buxldmg formerly occupred by the L O Crocker store The building was small only fourteen feet by ten and seven feet to the eaves It had a puncheon floor and one wmdow Mr Martm s str1ct d1sc1 l1ne has been remembered and recorded He had forbrdden skatmg on the rrver t e penalty for d1sobed1ence belng a whxppmg When one of the bovs john Thatcher was caught skatrng he was so severely punlshed that all the puplls except those of the Hunt and Davls fam1l1es left school Smcc It was a subscrlptlon school Mr Martm s mcome decreased so much that he soon closed the school 1 Tlldcn M H Hxstory of Stephenson County Illrnols Western Hrstorxcal Company 1880 'E , 1 , 9 , . . . . . . , . 1 ' 1 ' . . . , . ' 1 - - , l . 7 . . ' I 1 Pl ' ' . - s 1 a ' ' ' 1 - Q , . . . . , , . . . , . . . . . , E - ' , is s ' . , . - .. - - - .. . - - 1 - V, 1 1 , - ,:-e+1.,- .g. -'leiltf-Lf' 5-fl.-AE-Lf'if'L f:,:2,1:.5g4,,, - Page Nzneteen