Forreston High School - Cardinal Yearbook (Forreston, IL)

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Dedlcuhon A qmet brxck schoolbulldlng can be most artlculate ln brlnglng back meanlngful memorles The bu1ld lng may be empty and mute yet those who llved and learned there may enter and they wxll hear famxllar volces and see real people frlends classmates and teachers of bygone years they w1ll recall speclal affectlons that developed wlthm those four walls they may sadly reconstruct a bltter dxsappoxntment or re llve joyous trlumphs experlenced ln athletxcs muslc Judglng contests class plays and other act1v1t1es If present plans materlallze we w1llbe the flnal hlgh school graduatmg class from thls brlck buxldlng We are graduatlng class number 40 from thls blllldlllg Twenty three of the exerc1ses were held ln the old study hall w1th the past seventeen 1n the gymnaslum audxtorlum roll w1th 36 graduates A total of 746 youths have been mcluded 1n those forty graduatlng classes As we leave th1s old frlend we wxsh her well and we know she w1ll contlnue to be busy and useful as mcreasmg numbers of small chlldren enter her doors Some lnterlor changes may be made but she wlll remain as a solld anchor and frlend 1n the mldst of our communlty near a busy hlghway of traff1c and travel She has been heavlly overloaded for several years but she remalns strong Her sturdy stalrs have carrled thousands of feet up and down yet there are no cupped places so common 1n other staxrs Her walls are strong the roof IS tlght andher floors look even better than they dld twenty years ago when o1l appllcatlons were lxberal Boys and glrls w1ll come and go but our falthful frlend w1ll remam here for many years quletly and patlently performmg her servlce to our communlty In grateful acknowledgement of all thls brlck bu1ld1ng has meant to us 1n l1v1ng and learnmg we the semors of 1956 36 strong do hereby dedlcate thxs seventeenth volume of the Cardlnal to her and to all she symbollzes IH our makeup and memory May her years of usefulness long contmue and may our l1ves be as sturdy and as useful and as mfluentlal as has been hers O I 'The 1916 group--last inthe previous building-:had 12 members. The 1956 class has tripled that class

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History of F C H S The f1rst school bmldmg ln Forreston was a one story frame structure about 40x60 feet lo cated ln the center of the or1g1na1 town plat or to be exact on the lots occupled by the Stanley resldence Just west of the Lutheran church It was erected 1n 1856 and was ln those early days used for every pur pose of publlc gathermg 1nclud1ng lectures theatre etc On Sundays It was an unusually busy place as all denomlnatlons used lt for rel1g1ous servlces at varlous hours durmg the day so that rel1g1ous servlces were almost lf not contmuous through the day In lt the Un1on Sunday School was organlzed by C M Haller and others ln May 1859 and contxnued to hold 1tS sesslons there untxl the year 1863 when It was remov ed to the then new Lutheran Church the second new church to be btult 1n Forreston When the new school was bu1lt ID 1867 thxs old tabernacle was sold for a few hundred dollars to George W Hewltt who used lt several years for a hay barn When I f1rst attended th1s school It cons1sted of one large room wlth two front doors one for the boys and one for the gxrls The benches and desks were so arranged that the boys and glrls faced each other lookmg north and south There was a ralsed plat form at the west end where the teacher had h1s table and the dunce block As populatlon lncreased we needed two teachers A board part1t1on was run through the room east and west dlVld1Dg xt mto two long narrow rooms The males and females could no longer be segregated and toward the end It became very crowded so that the smaller ch1ldren were crowded out and were taught by a th1rd teacher 1n the basement of U B Church The above ment1oned 1867 bul1d1ng was erected near the Slte of our present bul1d1ng The present bu1ld1ng was bullt ln 1916 and 1n 1939 an addxtlon was bullt whlch prov1ded for a gym a commerclal room an ag room and a stage The school grounds have been enlarged and lmproved ln many ways the past few years We now have a very f1ne track and a splend1d softball d1amond In 1946 11 ts were added to xmprove the d1amond In November 1952 an asphalt tennls court was la1d east of the bul d1ng The class of 1947 planted two Jumper trees southwest of the bulldmg 1n memo of two F C l-I S men gave thelr llves for thexr country 1n World War II On the north slde of the school 1S a towermg gmgko tree planted ln memory of Charles Ruppert a World War I veteran A marker was placed by thxs tree ln 1949 by Amerlcan Leglon Post 308 In 1879 three students graduated from F C H S to make up the f1rst graduat1ng class There were no graduates from 1881 to 1885 but since that txme there has been a graduatxon class every year The largest classes of 34 members each graduated rn 1942 and 1945 unt1l the 1954 group set a new record w1th 38 graduates Just now we feel we are enterxng a new era On October 16 1954 the dlstrxct voted S590 000 1n bonds to purchase a slte and to erect a new school on that s1te The s1te contams 20 acres border1ng the vxllage l1m1ts on the east and lylng Just south of Route 72 The proposed buxldmg IS to face the north and wxll be accesslble from Route 72 and v1a a new street to be opened Just south of the Jack Freasman resldence Thls street lines up wlth the east west street by the Masonlc Temple Hopes had been held for a new street Jo1n1ng these separated segments but s1x sets of raxlroad tracks would be crossed The estl mated mxmmum cost for new street work the crossmgs and the flasher slgnals was S30 000 Then too a permxt must be secured from the Illinols Commerce Comm1ss1on The plan has been dropped for the present The dxrt began to fly Jlme 24 on the new Slte Progress has been steady and the bmldmg IS scheduled for occupancy by September 1 Costs are too great to purchase all new eqmpment Usable equipment from the present buildmg w1ll be taken to the new btuldlng The cafeterla k1tchen lxbrary physlcs and chemlstry equlpment and several other items must be purchased new The school wzll accommodate 250 students 165 are now enrolled There may be 200 from the combined Forreston Ger man Valley area w1th1n three years It IS posslble that the 250 mark could be reached ln fxfteen years If so our heatxng system IS deslgned to take care of SIX add1t1onal rooms whlch would take care of our hxgh problems for qnute a few more years It IS slgmfxcant that the flrst school ln Forreston was buxlt 1n 1856 Thus the one hundreth annlver sary of th1s flrst school can be approprlately celebrated by dedlcatmg one of the fmest h1gh school btuld mgs ln northern Illlnols I O O O H . . . . - graduates, Pvt: Herman Woolsey, class of 1938, and Ensign Carroll Coffman, class c:ly193.9. These tivo ' 1 'C ,, . . . . .