Momence High School - Monesse Yearbook (Momence, IL)

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4 closings affect district like other communities, momence began to feel the economy crunch, it started in the summer of 1973 when agar's plant closed and came to a head on May 13, 1975 when carter-wallace stopped producing their products locally. the unemployment figures began to rise on a scale equal to the rest of the state and nation, rumors of other plant closings and two or three week factory shutdowns left the town with the question of where it would all end. because of a lack of business, some of the establishments in the town closed down and empty storefronts began to greet visi- tors to the community. how DID all of this affect the school sys- tem, and how WILL it affect the system? a loss of tax dollar revenue will reduce the amount of monies the school board has to work with, this fact, together with a decline in enrollment in the lower grades, has initi- ated board action to start trimming budg- ets. in the end it could result in a loss of some of the “non-important programs in the district. recession, an old word now used on a regular basis, or the start of a depression — no one knows what to believe or where it will all end.

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6 a 40-year old visit to the past — mhs have you ever wondered what the mid- dle 1930’s were like? the depression was just ending and the works progress admin- istration (wpa) was formed by president franklin roosevelt’s administration as a plan to get thousands of unemployed men back on the payroll, the major concentra- tion of work by the wpa was public build- ings, a community or school corporation could get a structure built at a fraction of the cost of hiring a contractor. momence high school, completed in 1936, was built under this plan, one of the sturdiest structures in the county, the build- ings housed both the junior and senior highs with room to spare, rooms were fin- ished as they were needed, it was a slow trend at first but within the last 10 years mhs has almost doubled in size. at first the junior high, grades six through eight, were moved out to a new building and mhs stayed the same, next year the freshmen will be taken out to help the overcrowded conditions and the build- ing is still basically the same as it was in 1936. with the exception of new desks, paint and lighting the building is like returning to the time of the pre-hitler era. because of a lack of funds and a com- munity that can't stand another tax hike, the tennis courts, stage curtains and stu- dent parking lot, all pictured, are just a few of the areas that have suffered. have you ever wondered what the 1930's were like, take a good, long look at mhs.