Atkinson High School - Tiger Yearbook (Atkinson, IL)

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HISTORY OF A. C. K. S. Studies perfeot nature, and arc perfected by experience: for natural abilities are like natural Plants that need pruning by study. On the site where the residence of Nrs. James Nowers now stands was erected a noble and fine building, not so much in its stature as in the ideals and hope with which it was erected. This was a schoolhouse, the fourth building to be erected. It was then, in those Civil War days, as it is now, not only a schoolhouse but a meeting place where political and governmental events might be held. The simple teaching of the three R s , spelling and geography was first placed within the outreach of many more young people by Mrs. Elizabeth Nowers Lyons, the first Atkinson High School teacher. Sometime later the original school building was vacated, and the pursuit of learning was carried on in a larger frame structure, built where the Atkinson Public Grade School now stande. Since high school education wrs still young but flour ishing, enrollment was small and the course consisted of but three years until 1904, when the four year high school plan was arranged. The first Atkinson High School commencement was held in 1889 v ith Helen Lyons as the first graduate. Though high schools had become more common, the people of this vicinity were wary of sending their children to them, and it was not until recent years that almost every eighth grader had the privilege of furthering his education. Before 1989 young people studied as lone as they felt they should and then concluded their schooling without further ado. Schooling was a dull grind in those days. There were no happy hour6 of chorus, athletics, music, end informal classes. In 1920 the present Atkinson Public Grade School was built at a cost of'§60,000. In January, 1921, the students, both grade and high, began their work in it. The architectural '■rrangement seemed quite correct at the time, but in 1940 state school officials checked up and found it lacking in many respects. The records of this school, prior to 1906 were destroyed, thus causing much of the early history of the institution to be lost. 1. From Of Studies by Francis Bacon.

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Holland Education wns gaining a strong foothold and on Aorll 23, 1939, new territory was added to the Atkinson school district by a sreclnl election, and enrollment the following term increased threefold. Because of lacking qualities in this brick structure, in April 1941, it was voted by residents of the community to issue bonds to finance the construction of a new high school, at the cost of $100,000. The new building was completed during the summer of 42 due to extreme effort on the part of the school bo'-rd, the contractors, and workmen. The impressing new school building was dedicated on September 11, 1942 and the first classes held on September 2, 1942, with a staff of six highly qualified teachers, an enrollment of seventy-one students and a schedule offering nineteen subjects. This new school buildinr; a descendant from the pioneer frame building shows how the world is progressing and how the young people ore preparing to meet its onslaught fully prepared and enlightened.