Eldorado High School - Golden E Yearbook (Eldorado, IL)

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U1 r, . M ,2 al w 1. : m-vc. ' W n TY fn..-7. 4: M., 1 ' ! mn if 5 1... X U' rf Football Squad of 1912, Back Row: Coach Put- nam Cecil Murphy Henry Kirkland, Ray Wiggins, Homer Bramlet, Frank Sutton, ,'Vlidd'e Row: Hubert Bramlet, Cecil Simpson, McKinley Hicks Hal Burnett. Front Row: George Wilson, Louis Beasley Earl Simp, son, Simon Sutton, John Cox first'class to graduate, having had all its training in the new school was the class ot 1912, with e1e'ven members, three boys and eight girls From that time the size of gradua- ting classes increased untzl 1942, when the Baseball Team of 1912. Baseball was resumed at E.T,H S. in 1958 number of graduates reached 147 The en- rcllment of the school has usually reflected the economic candit1ons, not only in the com- munity, but in the country in general When unemployrnent has been great, greater num- bers have attended the school, due in part to pasrtions being filled by adults, and in ig The first gymnasium erected 1914. part by the fact that young families employed away from Eldorado returned to live here during periods oi unemployment. As rapidly as they could be provided, considering room, revenue, and demands for the new courses, the curriculum was expanded to include a well-rounded course of instruc- tion. Vocational Agriculture was added in 1919. Manual Training, or Industrial Arts, has been enlarged. Home Economics, Band, Or- chestra7 Chorus, a lull commercial course, Lan- guages, including at times, Latin, French, Ger- man, and Spanish, have been offered. Instruc- tion in Health, including Drivers Training, has been offered for several years, The first picture of the entire student body taken in 1910-1911.

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the schools of the township and examine the pupils to determine who was qualified to enter the high school. It was determined that the number of pupils ready to enter high school would be rather small. Acordingly, an arrangement was Physics class scene in 1910-1911. made with the Eldorado Public School Board of Education to provide classes for the 8th grade, since the school facilities in Eldorado were inadequate to provide room and teachers for the rapidly increasing school population. 1. Marshall Peer and Bess Pemberton were employed as teachers and on Monday, Sep- tember 29, 1908 the school opened in the Methodist Church of Eldorado, since the new building was not ready for occupancy, There The graduating class of 1912 was the first class to attend all four years at E.T.H.S. Standing: Ralph Adams, Clyde Kane, Pearl Roberts, George Shaw, T. Leo Dodd. Seated: Neil Martin, Mary Shafer, Effie- Beare, Angeline Baugh, Freda Farmer. were 80 pupils enrolled in the 9th, 10th, and 11th grades, none in the 12th, and 47 in the 8th grade. For a few days classes were conducted in the Methodist and Baptist churches and then in the high school barn which had been con- structed to shelter the horses driven by the pupils from the rural area. The janitor's dwell- ing, which was fitted for temporary school quarters, was used for that purpose until De- cember 6, 1908, when the new building was completed. By this time the enrollment had reached 129 pupils, and Zola Green was em- ployed as a fourth member of the teaching staff. Basketball Squad of 1913. Standing: Coach Putnam, John David Upchurch, Leslie Stinson, Henry Kirkland, Hubert Bramlet, Seated: George Wilson, Cecil Simp- son, Louis Beasley. The new high school was soon fully accredited by the University of Illinois which enabled graduates from the school to be ad- mitted to the University without examination. Courses of study offered in the first year of the new school included: English, History, Draw- ing, Manual Training, Geometry, Zoology, Bo- tany, Modern and Medieval History, German, Bookkeeping, Agriculture, Physics, American History, Civics, and Arithmetic, all in addi- tion to the courses offered for the 8th grade. The close of the first year was marked, not by graduation from high school since there were no pupils in the twelfth grade that year, but by graduation of the eighth grade pupils, and their promotion to high school. The en- rollment in high school increased constantly until it reached its highest point in 1933 with 650 pupils enrolled. The first class to graduate with the full four-year course from the Eldorado Township High School was the class of 1910, with seven members, two boys and five girls. The class of 1911 had only two members, both girls, The 5

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. 3. . l .K ' .Nw - , 1? .f K7 I - if .Lf lt - - il T' ' - 'Y iff v-n The Raibourn Building erected 1922. Cafeteria facilities were provided in a small way in about 1925 and enlarged and constant- ly improved from that time until at the present all pupils and teachers who desire, may be accommodated with a hot noon day meal of well-balanced selections under the supervision of the School Lunch Program. The Athletic Department has always oc- cupied the proper place in the school program Jneither predominate, nor obscure. Since 1910 there have been track, basketball and football teams engaging in competition with other schools. Eldorado Township High School has always enjoyed the respect of its citizens and of schools with which its teams have com- peted for sportmanship and prowess. From the beginning, pupils from without the district have attended the school in great numbers. Additions to the geographical boun- daries have been made from time to time by petition, and 'at the present the district which was originally only East Eldorado Township, 36 square miles, has been extended to in- clude parts of adjoining townships and reach- es into Hamilton and Gallatin counties. The buildings constructed to meet the de- mands of the growing school population re- flect not only the growth of the community, but also the enrichment of facilities for always keeping pace and often taking the lead in secondary education. Buildings added to the plant, with approximate dates of completion are: frame gymnasium, 1914, Raibourn build- ing, 1922g Westbrook gymnasium, l93Og Dodd building, 1943, Vocational Department addi- tion to the Westbrook gymnasium, and the new gymnasium, 1957. At first there were no facilities for indoor basketball. An outdoor court was set up and used when weather would permit. The walls of classrooms on the first floor of the Van Cleve building still bear the marks of basketball goals attached for improvised quarters. No games with other schools were ever played in these quarters, however. The history of gymnasiums is very color- ful. lt was the dream of those most interested in the school in its early years that there should be a gymnasium. However, the tax and bond burden was so great that it seemed im- possible to achieve. Quite in keeping with the spirit of Eldorado -then and now - where there is a will, there is a way, the late C. O DuBois, an educator and a landowner, donat- ed all the lumber necessary for the construc- tion of a frame gymnasium in 1912, provided the people would cut the timber from his pro- The Westbrook Gymnasium erected 1930. perty. The coach and manual training teacher, I. Marshall Peer, led the work with the result that within two years a large frame gym- nasium was ready for occupancy. The Board of Education was in a position to complete the interior of the building in 1918. This was the first gymnasium in the area. In 1929 this building was destroyed by fire. Again there was a heavy bonded indebtedness, due to the recent construction of the Raibourn building, and again the will and the way teamed up for a new gymnasium. Local deal- ers expressed a willingness to furnish build- ing materials on long term credit. Labor was paid for in part by current funds and part by anticipation warrants. The result was that