Streator Township High School - Hardscrabble Yearbook (Streator, IL)

Page 13 text:

Class o 1876 Each class has the honor for a year of bemg the last to be graduated but only one can be first and th1s IS the prlvllege of the class of 76 Before the fall of 75 Hlgh School subyects were taught 1n the old Central School Owmg to the oblectlons of some of the taxpayers Lat1n and Geometry could not be taken m school hours but w ere reclted before and after school When the class entered the Townsh1p Hlgh School 1n September 75 a pretentlous ChOlCe of sublects was given lncludmg Latm Greek German French Astronomy Trlgonometry and others Dr E P Murdock was the first prmclpal and had two asslstants He left ln the sprlng and was succeeded by Mr J H Freeman now of Aurora under whom the class was graduated The school was above where the Free Press IS now located and there was one long assembly room w1th two rec1tat1on rooms A back door behmd a proyectlon ln the large room made lt posslble for the boys to sllp out unseen The boys played ball 1n a large plot of ground ad1o1n1ng the bu1ld1ng and here the glrls sometlmes 1ndulged 1n one old cat A L1ter ary Soclety furmshed the SOC1al hfe of the school Those who dld not belong to It had to perform Frxday afternoons The graduatlng exerclses were held m the old Orlental Hall the class and teachers marchlng to the bulldlng vuhlch was crowded vuth admmng frlends and relatlves The members of the first class were Oscar B Ryon Cora Anderson fFr1esJ Dorothy Baker 'Ida F leshman fBar1ckmanJ 'Myrtle Pllcher 'Carr1e Ryon Inez Eades QStr1teJ Four of the class are st1ll l1v1ng :Deceased Inez Eades Strlte 76 P nz 7 ! Y . . . . , , . , . . . Y 1 . l . , . Y . . . , Y 7 . 7 I y 9 D 9 ' . . . , . . , . . . , , . 9 ' 9 1 ! x ' . . . . . . . H ,, . 9 - ' , , Y - as n - , . Y . . ' . , Y 7 I 1 7 1 , . , . ' s , . a eN

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V '7fif:73?7Tf'AiX-'Al VIQZZ6 HARDSCRABBLEH f ,' ' We WX M-M Y . . Vermillion R11 er from the brzdge at Strealor Illmozs I-l8I'dSCI'8bbl9 Hardscrabble as everyone who has always l1ved IH thls communlty knows was the name of the settlement from whlch Streator IS the out growth Back as far as 1832 settlels arrlved m Bruce Townshlp to estab llsh homes and farms but no record can be found of the town earller than the s1xt1es At that tlme a grocery store vsas establlshed to supply the needs of the coal mmers who came at th1s t1me to work the r1ch VGIHS of coal along the rlver banks It was bullt near the spot plctured above and later other store bulldlngs were erected near 1t The settlement was named Hardscrabble by a blacksmlth whose shop was near the r1ver bank and who watched the hard Scrabble of the teams ln crossmg the r1ver ford In 1865 the town was plotted and the name UHl0HVlll6 was chosen for the mmlng camp In 1866 Colonel Ralph Plumb was sent here to develop the coal fields for the V6FIT11lllOH Coal Companv of whlch Dr W L Streator was the presldent Rallroads were bullt the populatlon lncreased and 1n 1870 the one time mmmg camp was lncorporated as a town under the name of Streator In the few years that followed the vlllage mcreased so 1n SIZE that It became a clty IH 1882 under the general laws of the State As the years have passed the city vsas changed from a mlmng to a manufacturlng center Streator IS st1ll 1n the maklng and we are mdeed proud of our mlles of paved streets our publlc parks our department stores and beautlful publlc bulldlngs chlef among vuhlch are our pubhc llbrary the graded school bulldmgs and the new Streator Townshlp Hugh School It IS most fittmg that the scene plcked as one of the beauty spots 1n Ilhnoxs 1n a recent contest should mark the locatlon of the or1g1nal tovsn of Hardscrabble gl' YU ...Pi Aj LX ,. v , V ' . . .Y . Q ' . . , . t, f - . , K ' y - v sc 77 ' ' , u vs - - - . V . . 7 - v ' l . - . Y v cc H y ' ' 0 9 . . Y Y . . s 9 'Q . . . 7 . . 9 y . . . . . . 7 v as H 1- light A -V . ' xg I a 2--8---1 gf at-Ta-, ,..ag,.- ,, 6 ,

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VICE? Colonel Ralph Plumb Every Clty has great men 1n 1ts history Upon the pages of the hlstoly of Streator the name of Colonel Ralph Plumb stands out as the founder of the c1ty 1ts first mayor 1ts most levered cltlzen and greatest benefactor Comlng to Streator at the close of the C1V1l War 1n whlch he served contlnuously on the staff of General Garfield he proceeded to lay the foundatlons of our c1ty and to g1ve encouragement to all enterprlses whlch would promote 1tS development Reahzmg that higher educatlon was a necessary requ1s1te for the future growth of the commumty he donated the site and financed the con struction of the orlglnal hlgh school The opera house was made pos slble by h1m and through his lnfluence and efforts our pubhc park was obtalned The Carnegle Llbrary was secured purely through h1s personal sol1c1tat1on At h1S last pubhc appearance at the dedlcatlon of thls beautl ful bulldmg he remarked I have been blessed wxth large opportunxtles and I have enioyed many experiences I have taken note of the pleasures of l1fe and I g1V8 It as my most Valld my most certam testlmonv that there IS no Joy 1n llfe llke the 1oy of g1v1ng No lnvestment jl6ldS hke an mvestment 1n men There IS no work that pays as xx ell as helplng people to help themselves Colonel Plumb died on Aprll 8 1903 at the age of elghty seven yeals A life of servlce and generos1ty ended the lnfluence of Wh1Ch has been of lastmg benefit to the youth of qtreator P ge Ten Yi XX 'K J f ' 1 f'o,wf 14,1258 .. AFIFIIF F rv N 1 , B, a Q El A 1 T El 11 ' - l 1 - . , g V f. , , ' . . i U ' . Je 1 , , , I fill, yr 1 ,fa5i gi, p 4 ' -. 1 . I 'A r l ', l ' I ll V l U l l . ll l l l , y, 1 s u K ? 7 , ' 7 ., - ! , : H . . . . Y n ' . , ' .rs . . , , . l - Q n , , , . Y L n