Freeport High School - Polaris Yearbook (Freeport, IL)

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3 4'.s.ffH.Q 1 ' Q si: fsxifsvf-Gr..LL Under date of July 2., 1842., the names of Philip Reitzell, Robert McConnell, and Daniel Hawley were signed as trustees. Later papers give the location of District No. 3 as being in Township 2.8, Range 7 East. The earliest documentary evidence of school having been held in this district is a subscription list dated April 2.9, 1847. As further evidence of school being held that summer is a receipt, dated December 14, 1847, given to Norman Phillips, acting for the directors of the district, for seven dollars and fifty cents on account of wages of my daughter during the past summer and was signed by A. B. Pickard. In this case, at least, the father collected his daughter's salary. No winter quarter was held in this district, but Almeda Alexander taught the spring and summer quarters. Funds were evidently low at the autumn term, and part of the salary of the teacher, Abby Barstow, was paid by the heads of the fam- ilies in proportion to the number of school days their children attended. A few pupils from outside the district were taught for four cents a day, while the daily charge for residents was less than one cent. A total of 82.5.59 was paid for the quarter's teaching. In 1850 the boundaries of District No. 3 were changed and it was renumbered District No. 8. The following documents are an evidence of school activity during the first fyear in the life of this district. School District No. 8 of Township 2.7 and 2.8 o Range 7 East, of Stephenson County. To the School Commissioners of Stephenson County I. B. Smith you are hereby requested to examine Mrs. D. Phillips as respects her qualifications as teacher of orthography, reading in English, penmanship and arithmetic. Aug 8th 50 W I-I WILSON W F KNAPP Directors To the trustees of schools of Township 2.8 Range 8 in the County of Stephenson having examined Desiah Phillips do certify that she sustains a good moral character and that she is well qualified to teach the following branches of Orthography Reading Penmanshlp Arithmetic English Grammar Geography Witness our hand this 2.4 day of August A D ISSO OHN H ADDAMS 'X W Lucas Trustees of Schools Desiah Phillips was the wife of Norman Phillips In the school census of April I3 1850 the persons in District No 8 under twentv one years were given as seventv six We have seen that the schools in Stephenson County had made progress bv 1850 in the sixteen years since the founding of the first school Much more progress has naturallv been made in the eighty years since 1850 To dav there are one hundred fifty nine schools in Stephenson County with a total enrollment of 7112. In Freeport alone we have seven grade schools a junior high school and our senior high school Schools are a measure of the progress of civilization In the crude log cabin days of the frontier schools were also crude In the present age of a more luxurious civilization our schools are held in finer buildings our curriculum IS more varied and our teachers are better trained One can hardly imagine what changes in schools will be made in the next ninety six vears although no doubt they will be considerable Perhaps at that time our present schools will seem as primitive as the pioneer schools now seem to us M P 30 0 1 1 I s 1 1 , . . . J - .. 1 . . , . . 2 ' ' ' - ' , I ' - . . , Q u a . . 7 5 ' I , ' . - n - , 1 ' - Q n 1 1 ! . 7 l 3 - 1 , I I .- 4-yy' 9.111 afgg' 1-1.1.45 '.-. 47--.2,s.r3,4',fQ,4g5,,3 ,a?jJe...J..f2 Page Twenty one

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4 .w?,.fvE2f':'1J:'--vi-3'1 ak.,-Mil 1 . 9359. --12.3 .. 11gr'as.1 i--so--1 2 af' The beginning of a new epoch in the history of the schools in Stephenson County was marked when a school house was built in 1839 on Luman Montague's farm in West Point Township. This was the first building to be erected exclusively for school purposes in this county. Miss Flavilla Forbes conducted the first school in Florence Township in 1840. This school was held at the house of Anson Denio in the village of Oneco. Loran Township had its first school in 1840 and 1841. The school was established near Babb's church with Mr. Allison as the teacher. The school board consisted of Reuben Babb, William Kirkpatrick, and Anson Andrews. What is known as the little red school-house was built in Freeport in 1843 at a cost of about three hundred dollars, raised by po ular subscription. Miss Louisa Burchard was the teacher, and a daguerreotype of? her and her flock is pre- served by her family. In 1845 Miss Laura Colburn taught the first school in Ridott Township in a log house on the farm of her father, Horace Colburn. Several enterprising residents of Cedarville, among them the Clingmans and John H. Addams, obtained subscriptions in 1846 to pay for the erection of a school house. It was a one-story frame building, twenty by thirty feet, located near the burying ground. Mr. Chadwick and Miss julia Putnam were the first teachers. In later yearsjane Addams, the famous daughter ofjohn H. Addams, was a pupil in this building. Both my maternal and paternal ancestors were pioneers in Stephenson County and had definite connections with early schools. In 1847. a school was started in Rock Grove Township at the home of my great- grandfather john Kleckner He was bu1ld1ng a pretentious house at Walnut Grove patterned after his former home in Pennsylvania It was used both for the school and for church services while it vsas s ill in the process of construction as it was the largest building in the neighborhood School was held both in the large upper hall and in the northwest bedroom where there was a fireplace for use in cold weather The teacher for the first term held in 1841. was Thomas Johnson and in 1843 there was another man teacher In many of the schools of that period there was a great deal of disorder but this school was much more orderly perhaps because it was held in a pr1vate room My grandfather William Kleckner and his two brothers Conrad and Thomas were among the pu 1ls When the finishing touches including a fine walnut staircase were put into er house my great grandmother decided that the school should End another lace to meet Mrs Baramore allowed the school to use her house for a time an other people also furnished rooms in turn The Walnut Grove stone schoolhouse was erected in 1850 on land deeded by John Kleckner In a small metal casket containing letters and documents saved by my great grandfather Norman Philllps were found several papers relating to the Damascus District in Waddams Township The earliest document regarding a school district in the neighborhood of Damascus IS a small rather cryptic sheet bearing on its re verse side this endorsement by Norman Phillips District No 3 Organized uly 2. 1847. This paper shows that there were five school districts in Waddams Township The township school money Cprobably gained from the sale of the school landj was divided among the districts according to the school census The amount of money divided was S77 97 and the sum already paid out was S19 46 1. Chapman Brothers Stephenson County Illinois 1888 and Fulwider L A History ofStephcn son County Illinois S Clarke Publishing Company 1910 3 ' i 1 ' t , 7 ' 7 Y ' ! 7 3 - y a 3 7 ' E ' ' D 1 1 ' , :lj I D ' , . , . ,,-.-..- . , a 1 x s ' -1 ' , , . J. , . sa. '+f1?,,-fi1,.f'3. 1, fl . , ali -...fa gm, 11 Q..-te-. 71 a-.l1Qf3,.f 137- '3:1.w'2. .- Page Twengf

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,u , , , , 2 W 1 ,-In . . n V .3 1 , , - f,, V r' if.- xl kv' 4,11 .::' 1'-:: f 'x ., 1 . K ' ' ' nf - ' ' ' ' l HISTORY OF FREEPORT HIGH SCHOOL HE first school in Freeport was conducted bv Nelson Martin, in a log cabin on the banks of the Pecatonica in 1837. Highischool courses were offered in 1852., but in 186o, the principal and most ofthe students enlisted in the army, so the school almost ceased to exist. After the Civil War, the enrollment gradually increased, until, since the class of 1863, which consisted of only four members, we have attained an enrollment of more than a thousand. In 1881 a four-year high school course was established, a three-year course having been maintained until then. Thelplace of high school was filled by private schools, subscription schools, academies, and seminaries until the Union School was built. The first public high school in Freeport was begun in 1852. in an upper room in the Un1on School where the First Ward School now stands The Old H1 gh School on South Galena Avenue was built in 1887 and the annex to that building wts completed nineteen years afterwards The new Senior High School was built in 192.6 on a twenty five acre site on Moseley Street Grovw th in enrollment and number of graduates YEAR TOTAL ENROLLMENT GRADUATLS 19oo 2. 1910 0 1910 1 2. 1930 IO 1 Graduates of Freeport H1 h School now hold high places 1n the world s work and have reflected much cre it and honor on the school The history of education in Freeport High School in the ninety three years between the little log cabin and excellent school of today shows that Freeport H1 gh School has an exceptionally high rating The North Central Association the or anization which ins ects and accredits high schools of the North Central States rom Denver to Pitts urgh published a report of high school standings in March 1930 The rating is based on the per centage ot failures of high school graduates in colleges in the first semester of 192.8 In this rating for Illinois Freeport High School ranked first in Illinois among schools of 8oo or more students The rating is Freeport failures 9 1 7, Rockford 18 772, Elgin 1400 Evanston 2.67, Dixon 2.97 Monmouth 2.4 62 U of Chicago II 32 New Trier 2.1 77, East Aurora 2.2. 67 West Aurora 2.1 472, oliet 2.1 2.7 Maywood 2.6 572, Peoria Central 7.0 2.72, Peoria Manual 2.6 372, Polo 62. 59, Champaign 5o 792 Urbana 5o 772, Oak Park I9 47, Bloomington I9 47 Moline 35 572 Johnson City 5ofZ La Grange 43 572, La Salle 43 872 The high school and the communitv of Freeport are proud of the record of its educational progress s , . , , . , , . . I . n , I , Z . Y . 1 n T ' ' 46 32. , 43 66 666 3 45 S6 . . . 1 v E 1 n n , - 2 2 1 , 1: 1 1 F 4 Q , n ' n - I I ' . , I .1 1 . : - , . 9 , . - Q ' 1 . . ' . . a 1' 3 l 9 1 2 Ox 9 ' 1 ' . I . I , . ' , - 05 A p - J 5 ' 0 9 . 7 ' 7 ' I 9 ' V 7 ' 'fi - . 1 ' ' - . 7 ' s ' 7 ' 05 2 ' 1 9 - 2 3 ' i ' J .4 , 1. ,, 1' 4 ,, 1.1 9 ,..E,,:f615f,-fzfxgtlfflg '- v ' sf, 'ff' gf' ffLfi 4'-,1:3 i i2- A444 ,ggyefvffr 1' O P at Page Twenty-two