Mendota High School - Atodnem Yearbook (Mendota, IL)

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Student body of over six hundred dedicates new flag pole in our year

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I -A1 .I , ,, ff Y c vi 1. 1 ff' ' semi 'is f . c 'tieifgdi y rf' ffm.-l 1 c ,.,. f W he se ,:+icl19.,.,.l gil . 1? .r ,,f1 e,,,+-.m+5:z3e.'v-N ' H he We ek ww e 'foils' Y if :J gi New f ei ..1,, if 1 1 , J tri E 115551125 gms . 1.1 ,greg Mig 1 , 4 ' li iii 'Mft s A+ if' and a band room. The old gym was converted into a modern auditorium. A library was built at the east side of the study hall and modernized in 1952 into an out- standing school library. ln January, 1957, a proposal to build additions and to remodel the high school building and to issue bonds in the amount of 51,150,000 was approved by the voters. Total expenditures to June 30, 1959, were 51,- 156,771.32, with an estimated 575,000 required to complete the program, including smoke screen partitions in corridors and remaining lockers. Major improvements resulting from the program were: a new south wing lthree floorsl including five class- rooms, a chemistry-physics laboratory-classroom, and offices, a new agriculture department, including class- room and farm shop for high school and adult classes, a new metals shop and print shop in a completely new industrial arts department, a new gymnasium, adequate in size for both boys' and girls' physical education classes, new locker and shower rooms for boys, re- THE EAST SIDE of the building. shown here in a 1923 photo. remained unchanged until the building program of 1957. . - . . . , 1.1.1 .ww '- ' ' elseif -... J 41 1 gf l W-1 , 1 , N 2 V ,f-is li - sit-ae-E - THE ORIGINAL building was only two classrooms deep . The view at the left shows not only the addi- tion of 1927. which added la cafeteria and classrooms in a three-story addition on the west. but also the new gym. which was built in 1939. Full-grown shade trees and flowering shrubs beautified the campus. Some alumni may mourn the loss of part of this cam- pus and miss the familiar front entrance. Problems of construction involved in adding the three-story 'addition in '57 made these changes necessary. Such are the sacrifices made to progress! modeling of old gym providing expanded cafeteria facilities and girls' locker and shower rooms on first floor and enlarged facilities for homemaking, music, and art on the second, other remodeling and improvements in the old main building providing adequate quarters for the school nurse, an enlarged library, enlarged class- rooms, redecorating and relighting the auditorium. DIRECTLY BELOW. to the extreme left can be seen the new Industrial Arts department and the new three-story stairway. In the foreground are the Farm Shop and Agriculture rooms. IN THE LOWER PICTURE can be seen the new gymnasium with its en- trance which faces north. The new additions cover much of what used to be the old football field behind the school.

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. -. .1 r' . . r ' wg , . ' V. 4' gljy- re. , gz 'Q' , 15:15 . 213 - 5193 FW '-- i 5? if 55- ,.gZ. ' . - si 'Le vis 2'-2 xx. 6.22 V 35+ S Q sf +m,'j - 6 Ives. e, ,-.:f.g33y,,?,g-.g:1y eg? -4 . an . azz. V 'csrzwi es I . -2 . 'rt-gf23'?gQe-f. 5-1:55,-' .. ,vo -- ig--1 x f ,ff-mo,:'1-'ig-s1.f3, 1: ,Ysgt ff .,feg+1 -2 'lv it't:T.'E:f1':'J. 'L' ' 'iii 1' 11 . '- ,H-f,o-gcgrs-f,, . - eeaei- . 'Q-c. . . 1 g., f' , we i.-'3. 'fbi52rf' ses , ,i gs J. gig ii: tsifrfsic ,gg if if-ii .. T. ..., .. N , N as...-er' -.i'iw.:..2iiiS1-5-., 771'efEi54f5E f '-rviffi ,' 1Qa2Z222vs 1' pffgliff , if s eq ,iii fists' fin 'lm' 1 477 ' ' . if-.V-... I -1 -. ' i'- 1 Amt f?'l.fe211..f,a'.r -1.11 -'.,, 1' 1 C FIRST HOME of the consolidated high school in the fall of 1310 was Blackstone. which had housed the Blackstone High School since the late 187D's. It was built in 1858 upon land donated by Blackstone. early Mendota philanthropist. Enrollment in 191D was ninety-two. The 1911 gradu- ating class numbered sixteen. THE PLACE - yesterday and today ,vs Ya l 't'4f'rZ2,gfvf ' ' -I th I bl k. MENDOTA TOWNSHIP HIGH SCHOOL. built at a cost of THE NEW BUILDING was enormous in size covering one our o a oc suslmml opened its doors Monday' September ml 1817- En- rollment was two hundred sixteen. The class oI 1918, num- bering 34. was the first to graduate from the new school. EEZ? Z ' ra Tse PON THE CONSOLIDATION of the East and West high schools fifty years ago, all high school classes were held in the Blackstone building, which had been erected back in 1869 ata cost of some 530,000 However grand the original building may have seemed, it soon became inadequate for the consolidated school. The lack of a gymnasium was keenly felt by the students of 1911. In 1915 the state superintendent of public instruction said that conditions in Blackstone were as bad as the worst in the state. The need for a separate township high school in its own building had been discussed for many years, How- ever, such a proposal had been voted down in 1914. A township high school district was voted in 904-220 in 1915. lWomen were not allowed to votel After much discussion pro and con, the site of the former Advent College was purchased as a location for the new school. Newspaper accounts relate that excavating for the foundation in August, 1916, had to be halted because of the heat and that the first facing brick were laid by Simon Lee, pioneer Mendota builder. In December, 1916, the contractor, Charles Karr, Clinton, Ill., died of pneu- monia. The public became alarmed when it was reported that the cost of the new building would exceed 5100,- D00 - labor had increased 40 As - and proceedings were started in Ottawa against the school board in lan- uory, 1917. ln April contracts were awarded to Construc- tion Service Co., Mendota, Charles D. Larabee, Mgr., to finish the township high school. ln that same month an injunction was granted obiectors in MTHS case preventing the county treasurer from assessing taxes for the town- ship high school until a decision was reached. ln June an act to legalize organization of certain high school dis- tricts became law - all pending actions shall abate. The doors of the new school opened Monday, Septem- ber 10, 1917, with an enrollment of 216. The building cost 5llS,000 and contained an assembly hall, ten classrooms, and an oliice plus a gymnasium, which served also as an auditorium. An addition was put on the west side of the building in 1927, great pains being taken to match the brick of the new with the old. The addition housed a new cafe- teria as well as ag room, art room, commercial and ad- ditional classrooms. The proiect cost 540,000 and was paid for with tuition funds laid aside. There was no re- course to bond issue or increase in tax levy. lly 1931 the need for a new athletic field became ap- parent. Property south of the high school was acquired for the proiect, which cost 515,000 Lights were added several years later as have been bleachers and a field- house, The new field boasted a 220-yard straightaway track, one of the few in the state. ln 1953 additional property was acquired east of the school for a practice field. ln 1939 a large addition was built on the northwest corner of the building. This cost S120,000 and provided a large, modern gymnasium, locker and shower rooms, THE OLD. old gym was converted into this auditorium in '39, These curtains. new then. have been replaced with a completely new set this year - the gift of the late Mrs. Kenneth B. Butler.