La Salle Peru Township High School - Ell Ess Pe Yearbook (La Salle, IL)

Page 14 text:

ELL ESS PE IDSF - NIAIN BUILDING RECREATION BUILDING Eight

Page 13 text:

DSP ELL ESS PE Zguilhings, Qliquipment ani: Qtuurses nf the Qcbuul The LaSalle-Peru Township High School is a modern school, which is unexcelled in equipment and advantages by any institution in the state. The school offers not only education and recreation to the pupils, but also serves as a social center to the entire community. The llflain Building which was the beginning of the institution, is a three-story brick structure, built in 1897. This was the first of the three buildings, comprising the present school. In 1914, when the Social Center was built, the old gymnasium in the basement was converted into the present Auditorium, with the main entrance on Chartres Street. It has a seating capacity of six hundred, with the seats so arranged that practically every one of them is good. The remainder of the basement is taken up by an Agricultural recitation room, a laboratory, a recitation room, and a janitor's room. The second floor is occupied by a large Assembly Hall, the Nlain Hall, two recitation rooms, a typewriting room, a rest room for the teachers, the Principal's Of- fice, and the Annex, which will in another year be converted into a library. The second floor is taken up by three Language rooms, the Commercial department, and the Science department. The latter consists of six rooms: a lecture room, a store room, a workshop thoroughly equipped for the use of the instructor, a chemistry labo1'atory, a physics laboratory, and a dark room for photographic work. The halls of both the second and third Hoors are lined with metal lockers in which the students can lock their books and wraps. The entire third Hoor is occupied by a spacious lunch room capable of accommodating about one hundred and fifty pupils who are served in cafeteria style. The lkianual Training Building, directly across from the Maiii Building, which was erected in 1903, was the gift of lVIrs. F. W. llflatthiessen. It is a long, low build- ing of the factory type, and is divided into two departments. The north half is used for the instruction in lvlanual Arts, while the south half contains a commodious Domestic Science Department. The Central Heating Plant of the school, located just west of the llflanual Train- ing Building, is a large brick structu1'e equipped with a modern improved method of heating and Ventilating. The Social Center Building, constructed in 1913, was the next addition to the school. This building was the gift of Bair. F. W. llflatthiessen. It is a two-story brick building located north of the llflain Building and connected by a well-covered passageway or bridge. The basement floor is taken up by a natatorium, locker room, drying room, and a varsity room. On the first floor is a large gymnasium with a run- ning track above, which is also used as a gallery for spectators, a game room, and a history room. The second floor contains the music room, which is large and well sit- uated, and the art room. The Hygienic Institute is an institution made possible by the generous gift of the late Honorable F. VV. llfiatthiessen. It is housed by a building owned by and adjacent to the High School. It exercises general supervision over health conditions in the three cities, and examines all school children for physical or mental defects. If chil- dren are found with defective teeth they are taken care of at the Hygienic Institute in the Dental Clinic. High school students are also given examinations to determine their Htness for athletics, especially for swimming. They are always watched carefully for symptoms of diseases which may be prevalent in the cities. Various lectures are given to the students from time to time by the director or members of his staff. Seven

Page 15 text:

- - -DSP N ELL ESS PE Qhhitinns uf 1918 In 1918 was completed a very commodious addition to the Recreation Building, made possible by the gift of the late Mr. F. W. lvlatthiessen. In the basement of the addition is a new biological laboratory. It has a much better aquarium than the old room, and is also an improvement because it has separate laboratory and recitation departments. The first floor contains a large reception room in which parties and dances can be held. On the first Hoor is also a kitchenette, an apparatus room, an office, cloakrooms, and two game rooms. One of these game rooms during the winter was used by a night school class of home nursing, under the instruction of Miss Clythia DeCosta, of the Hygienic Institute. The other game room is used by the high school boys at noon and .after school. By this addition to the Recreation Building, it is pos- sible to have boys' and girls' classes in different rooms on the same day, so that a great deal of time and space that hitherto has been wasted can now be utilized. Qtnntemplateh Zlltzratinns The old T. H. S. Building is to undergo this year extensive remodeling on plans laid out by the late Honorable F. W. liflatthiessen. ' The south entrance to the Malll Building will be put on the same level as the first embankment. A stairway will go from this level to the main hallway. The tower will be cut out from the second floor up. The principal's present office and the gen- eral school oHice will be placed in this tower where the Typewriting room now is. The Typewriting room will be transferred upstairs to the present Commercial room. Hereafter the students will have to use the east and west stairways only to reach the upper parts of the building. The old lunch room will be remodeled as well as the entire front ogithe building on the third fioor. A large fire escape will be built connecting the iVIain Building with the Recreation Building. The east and west entrances and the tile walls will be repaired. The Chemical laboratory, Chemical lecture room, and the Stereopticon room will be ventilated. A new master clock with new signal bells will be installed. The Board is to install slate blackboards in all the altered rooms. The building will be in great part re-decorated. Alterations will be made in the west entrance to the Auditorium and in the old Biological laboratory, back of the Auditorium, which will make it possible to shut off entirely the activities of the lower floor from the main school building. . The old so-called library of the Recreation Building will be converted into a recita- tion room, and provision is to be made for remodeling the Domestic Science depart- ment and establishing suitable quarters for the Drawing department. The jwlattbiessen Memorial library Through the generosity of the heirs of hir. F. VV. iiiatthiessen, a modern and com- pletely equipped library will be installed in the space now occupied CIQIQ, by the three rooms of the principal's ofiice, just east of the assembly hall. The present double doors to the assembly hall will be walled up. A vestibule entrance will be made in the southwest corner and an ornamented iron gallery will be built around the greater part of the room. A stairway will lead to a workshop in the basement floor. An ornamented ceiling will be introduced, and milled woodwork for shelves will cover the entire wall space. Leaded glass windows will be installed. The library will be equipped with all the up-to-date machinery for making it a completeworkshop for all the classes of the school. There will be reading tables, magazine cases, lantern slide and Victrola record cases, card catalogues, etc. The architectural and decorative scheme will be of the Georgian period. The principal's and the school's general office will probably also be fitted up with modern ofiice equipment. Nine