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

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s Q n l 5 54 . MT- , ff V. ...f---Y--. 7-7. rf -- - ---- --v--.Q ,I , 1 ' swf? K 'I x - ,.,..Wm ,- hr .W , , .. I XLQ.,-f' f f ,, ' 7,1 x' r I .W A I 2 ,- A , I DEDI- CATED 1926 GYMNASIUM AND CENTRAL SECTION From text books but without laboratory equipment, biology, physics, and chemistry were taught. Mathematics consisted of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonom- etry, and astronomy. There were four years of Engli-sh, and but one year of history. In contrast are today's curricula including college preparatory, commercial, agricultural, industrial, and home econom- ics courses. There was but one extracurricular activity in '76, a Literary Society, now We have a variety of activities to meet the diverse interests of our students. From a faculty of three in '76 the high school grew until it now has a faculty of forty- one. There were but seven graduates in the class of '76, Since then approximately five thousand graduates have gone forth from Streator High to assume their places in the world. This year's class roll includes some two hundred names. Previously only a few were interested in furthering their training beyond the three R's, but in recent years the peak of enrollment has been twelve hundred. So goes the story of the growth of our beloved Alma Mater. AUDITORIUM ADDITION .... DEDICATED 1936

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SCHOOL HISTORY It was in 1875-just one hundred years after the American Revolution- that Streator High School was founded, it being the third high school in Illinois organized under the township system. In '75 the school opened in the rooms above the Free Press newspaper office. In the fall of '77 the school moved to what was then the old Methodist church build- ing on South Monroe Street, the present site of the Baptist parsonage. This was its home until 1882 when Colonel Ralph Plumb donated the present site and a building valued at 350,000 That building was adequate for fifteen years, then the growth of the school demanded larger accommodations. In 1902' an addition to the building, housing the assembly hall, the laboratories, the gymnasium, and the office, was added at a cost of 335,000 The entire equipment was then valued at over S175,000. In 1917 the large house on the corner of Bloomington Street and Lincoln Avenue was leased, converted into class- rooms, and used for the Annex. What is now the old building was dedicated in COLONEL RALPH PLUMB 1926. The new wing and the auditorium were added in 1936. I In addition to the improvement of our housing, it is interesting to compare the curriculum of '76 with that of today. At that time two languages other than Eng- lish were required for graduation. French, German, Greek, and Latin were offered. Four years of drawing were compulsory. ORIGINAL BUILDING AND 1902 ADDITION

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The nation that has the schools has the fuiure