The one-room schools of Peoria County
The 149 country school districts of 1945 Peoria County, township by township, with John Hayes's 1930s histories and the Grassel photographs.
19 townships, 204 school districts and 370 photographs, restored from a local history site first published in 2008.
Township by township
All townshipsIllinois was surveyed into townships six miles on a side, and the old rural school districts were laid out inside those squares. Each square here stands for one township in the archive, in alphabetical order; the red number counts the school districts its page documents.
Click a square to read its schoolhouse histories, recollections and photographs.
Townships
Search all 204 schools
Akron Township
Akron's nine districts, from the Hawley School nicknamed the Seven By Nine to the Townhouse School now standing at the Princeville Heritage Museum.
Brimfield Township
Ten country districts, the Brimfield Union Academy and the 1877 village school, with teachers, pupils and the fate of Burt, Bell and Paradise Chapel.
Chillicothe Township
Chillicothe District #20, the Senachwine or Shepard School and the old Coonskin, Oak Grove and Valley View school above the Illinois River.
Elmwood Township
From the Elmwood Academy of Don Carlos Taft to the Graham Chapel schoolhouse now at Wildlife Prairie Park, the country schools of Elmwood Township.
Hallock Township
Nine Hallock districts, from the Blue Ridge log cabin of 1839 to the West Hallock academy of the Seven Day Baptists, and where they went.
Hollis Township
Hollis, Maple Ridge, Mapleton, Martin and Wheeler schools, plus the coal-town Reed City Institute, in Peoria County's Hollis Township.
Jubilee Township
Greenbush, Shane, Cahill, Bramble, Poland, Robin's Nest, Town House and Carroll schools, and the Jubilee College that started it all.
Kickapoo Township
Nine school districts on Peoria's western edge, with 1930s histories by John Hayes, photographs from 2008 to 2011 and an Edwards class of 1955.
Limestone Township
Pleasant Valley, Norwood, Central Limestone, Walters, Bartonville, North Limestone, Oak Grove, Pleasant Hill and Hedge Row, later Monroe, west of Peoria.
Logan Township
Eight country schools west of Peoria, from the 1835 log school at Pleasant Grove to Hanna City's brick building, with a pupil's memories of the 1910s.
Medina Township
Mooney, Rice, Banner, Boylan, Mossville and Alta: six country schools along the old Galena Road north of Peoria, with class photos and a Banner pupil's memories.
Millbrook Township
Eight country schools in the northwest corner of Peoria County, from Elmore's 1867 brick schoolhouse to Spring Valley near Monica.
Princeville Township
Nine country districts, the Princeville Academy and the village school, told through John Hayes's school histories and photos from the Princeville Heritage Museum.
Radnor Township
Keady, Bell Tree, Salem, Dunlap, Glendale, Tucker, Hazel Dell, Parks and Dewey: the nine Radnor districts that became the Dunlap schools.
Richwoods Township
How the country schools north of Peoria, from Kellar and Sipp to Woodrow Wilson and Peoria Heights, grew into city and village districts.
Rome Township
Rome's school began in a riverside log house about 1835 and ran until the Chillicothe unit district took it in 1968.
Rosefield Township
Eight country schools of Rosefield Township, including Oak Hill, called the last one-room school in Peoria County, and the story of its bell.
Timber Township
Glasford, Saylor, Todd, Griggs, Scovil, Cowser, Bateman, Centennial, Kingston Mines and Tyndall: the country schools that became Illini Bluffs.
Trivoli Township
Eleven Trivoli Township districts from Pea Ridge to Oak Grove, with a teacher's photo album and the Concord School that survives intact.
From the original site
The pictures of old abandoned schoolhouses are from Grassel Collection.
Ernest Grassel, Preserver of Peoria History
Ernest Grassel retired from Caterpillar Tractor Co. in 1973, and moved to Arkansas in 1975. Peoria then lost one of her leading authorities on local history. Before leaving, he donated 82 volumes of photographs on Peoria homes and buildings to the Peoria Public Library, hoping they would be of use to the public and especially to local researchers. He also gave an outstanding collection of his personal drawings to the Peoria Historical Society, now housed in the Special Collections Library at Bradley University. Many, many hours of his life are wrapped up in this collection created throughout the 1970's.
Mr. Grassel stated, "I have always been interested in buildings of all kinds. During the era of the bulldozers and the wrecking cranes, I took a lot of pictures in all areas of Peoria. In a few years, I had a lot of long gone Peoria on paper. When I moved I gave 82 volumes of photographs to the Peoria Public Library. When I hear that history buffs are making use of them I feel well rewarded for my efforts."
West Bluff Word, May 1963, Page 14
This amazing collection of pictures will take you down memory lane. Ask for the index file for the Grassel Collection at the Reference Desk at the Main Peoria Public Library.
Peoria County Schools
Over one hundred years have passed since the organizing of the first school in Peoria County. With each ensuing year, our older settlers become fewer and our existing possibilities, to gather data about our early education, melt away as snow before a tropic sun.
With these thoughts in mind, and a desire to preserve the interesting activities of our forefathers, we have tried to secure from all the school districts, a brief history of the educational activities from earliest time.
From these historical reports, we find that the first school taught within the boundaries of Peoria County as it now is, was taught by Peter Grant at Fort Clark in 1821. This school and the subsequent schools until 1855, were, for the most part, provided for and operated as subscription schools. Isaac Essex, who was appointed teacher to the Indians by Rev. Jesse Walker, the hero of Methodism in Illinois, taught the second school. Although this school was intended more especially for Indian children, white children were permitted to attend.
The first woman to teach in Peoria County was Mrs. Maria Harkness, wife of James P. Harkness. Her first school was Ogee’s log cabin, which afterwards was used as the court house. Later she taught at a log school in the western part of the county in what is now District Number 30. This was in 1839. This was the third district in the county to have a school, District Number __ having erected a building and holding school a few months earlier in 1839.
Great strides have been made in one hundred and ten years. Peoria County now has 134 one-room schools, 9 county schools of two rooms or more, 34 village, town and city grade schools, 9 high schools, 17 parochial grade schools, two parochial high schools, 1 college, 22 kindergartens, 4 commercial schools, 1 commercial art school, 1 art institute, and 1 kindergarten training school.
The publishers tender their grateful acknowledgments and most hearty thanks to the friends, too numerous to mention, who in so many ways aided and encouraged the progress and completion of this enterprise. Most loyally and generously have the men and women of Peoria County responded when solicited for facts and data, necessary to compile this work. To these people and any other, who have given substantial encouragement, the author respectfully dedicates this work.
John Hayes, Superintendent of Peoria County Schools
Note: The material used for this book was submitted by many different people from each school district. John Hayes compiled and printed this material in the 1930's.
Early History of all of the 1945 schools was compiled and written by John Hayes, Superintendent of Schools.
1945 School Districts
- #1 Hawley Gruner (Akron)
- #2 Streitmatter (Akron)
- #3 Blue (Akron)
- #4 Morrow (Akron)
- #5 Townhouse (Akron)
- #6 Timmons (Akron)
- #7 Potter (Akron)
- #8 Summit (Akron)
- #9 Wilson (Akron)
- #10 Maple Grove (Brimfield)
- #11 Whittier (Brimfield)
- #12 Reed (Brimfield)
- #13 Burt (Brimfield)
- #14 Cowley (Brimfield)
- #15 Brimfield (Brimfield)
- #16 Radley (Brimfield)
- #17 Bell (Brimfield)
- #18 Paradise Chapel (Brimfield)
- #19 Gilbert (Brimfield)
- #20 Chillicothe (Pearce) (Chillicothe)
- #21 Senachwine (Chillicothe)
- #22 Valley View (Chillicothe)
- #23 Rome
- #24 Southport (Elmwood)
- #25 Elmwood (Elmwood)
- #26 Phelps (Elmwood)
- #27 Lehigh (Elmwood)
- #28 Texas (Elmwood)
- #29 Graham Chapel (Elmwood)
- #30 Harkness Grove (Elmwood)
- #31 Gibbs (Elmwood)
- #32 Blue Ridge (Hallock)
- #33 Northampton (Hallock)
- #34 Union (Hallock)
- #35 Southampton (Hallock)
- #36 Centerville (Hallock)
- #37 Edelstein (Hallock)
- #38 West Hallock (Hallock)
- #39 Simms Pleasant View (Hallock)
- #40 Hollis (Hollis)
- #41 Maple Ridge (Hollis)
- #42 Mapleton (Hollis)
- #43 Martin (Hollis)
- #44 Wheeler (Hollis)
- #45 Greenbush (Jubilee)
- #46 Shane (Jubilee)
- #47 Cahill (Jubilee)
- #48 Bramble (Jubilee)
- #49 Poland (Jubilee)
- #50 Robin's Nest (Jubilee)
- #51 Town House (Jubilee)
- #52 Carroll (Jubilee)
- #53 Orange Prairie (Kickapoo)
- #54 Kickapoo (Kickapoo)
- #55 Howarth (Kickapoo)
- #56 Pottstown (Kickapoo)
- #57 Forney (Kickapoo)
- #58 Heinz (Kickapoo)
- #59 Secretan/Lonsdale (Kickapoo)
- #60 Charter Oak (Kickapoo)
- #61 Edwards (Kickapoo)
- #62 Pleasant Valley (Limestone)
- #63 Norwood (Limestone)
- #64 Central Limestone (Limestone)
- #65 Walters (Limestone)
- #66 Bartonville (Limestone)
- #67 North Limestone (Limestone)
- #68 Oak Grove (Limestone)
- #69 Pleasant Hill (Limestone)
- #70 Monroe/Hedge Row (Limestone)
- #71 Pinkerton (Logan)
- #72 Cherry Forks (Logan)
- #73 Patton (Logan)
- #74 Pleasant Grove (Logan)
- #75 Smithville (Logan)
- #76 Hanna City (Logan)
- #77 Salem (Logan)
- #78 Harker's Corner (Logan)
- #79 Mooney (Medina)
- #80 Rice (Medina)
- #81 Banner (Medina)
- #82 Boylan (Medina)
- #83 Mossville (Medina)
- #84 Alta (Medina)
- #85 Elmore (Millbrook)
- #86 Nightingale (Millbrook)
- #87 French Grove (Millbrook)
- #88 Laura (Millbrook)
- #89 Garrison (Millbrook)
- #90 Scotland (Millbrook)
- #91 Campbell (Millbrook)
- #92 Spring Valley (Millbrook)
- #93 Adams (Princeville)
- #94 Moody (Princeville)
- #95 White's Grove (Princeville)
- #96 Byrnes (Princeville)
- #97 Princeville (Princeville)
- #98 Good Hope (Princeville)
- #99 Monica (Princeville)
- #100 Nelson (Princeville)
- #101 Henry (Princeville)
- #102 Keady (Radnor)
- #103 Bell Tree (Radnor)
- #104 Salem (Radnor)
- #105 Dunlap (Radnor)
- #106 Glendale (Radnor)
- #107 Tucker (Radnor)
- #108 Hazel Dell (Radnor)
- #109 Parks (Radnor)
- #110 Dewey (Radnor)
- #111 Kellar (Richwoods)
- #112 Gardener (Richwoods)
- #113 Hines (Richwoods)
- #114 Reservoir Heights (Richwoods)
- #115 Chillicothe High School
- #116 Richwoods (Richwoods)
- #117 Sipp School (Richwoods)
- #118 Woodrow Wilson (Richwoods)
- #119 Kingman
- #120 Peoria Heights (Richwoods)
- #121 Brown (Rosefield)
- #122 Cottonwood (Rosefield)
- #123 Nixon (Rosefield)
- #124 Morris (Rosefield)
- #125 Moore (Rosefield)
- #126 Golden Knoll (Rosefield)
- #127 Oak Hill (Rosefield)
- #128 Rosefield Center (Rosefield)
- #129 Glasford (Timber)
- #130 Saylor (Timber)
- #131 Todd (Timber)
- #132 Griggs (Timber)
- #133 Scovil (Timber)
- #134 Cowser (Timber)
- #135 Bateman (Timber)
- #136 Centennial (Timber)
- #137 Kingston Mines (Timber)
- #138 Tyndall (Timber)
- #139 Trivoli (Trivoli)
- #140 Pea Ridge (Trivoli)
- #141 Downs (Trivoli)
- #142 Blue (Trivoli)
- #143 Trivoli Center (Trivoli)
- #144 Bickford (Trivoli)
- #145 Concord (Trivoli)
- #146 Brunswick (Trivoli)
- #147 Penn Ridge (Trivoli)
- #148 White (Trivoli)
- #149 Oak Grove (Trivoli)
If you have any information or pictures to share, or if you know of any person who attended any of these schools, please get in touch. In doing family research I tried unsuccessfully to find a picture of my dad, a one room school student, and grandfather, a teacher and student in a one-room school in another county. I hope this site may help someone find a link to a family member from Peoria County.
R. Bantz, 2008
From 149 districts to a handful
The list above is a snapshot taken just before the change. In 1940 Illinois had about 12,000 one-room schoolhouse districts. Peoria County alone counted 134 one-room schools when John Hayes wrote his introduction in the 1930s. Within a few years of the war most of them were gone.
The township pages on this site trace the steps for each district. Typically a group of country schools joined a consolidated grade district in the late 1940s or early 1950s, numbered in the 300s, and those were folded into unit districts that run kindergarten through high school around 1968 and 1969. Today the county's rural townships are served by districts such as Illinois Valley Central Unit District 321, formed in 1968, Dunlap Community Unit School District 323, formed in 1969, Elmwood Community Unit School District 322, Brimfield Community Unit School District 309 and Princeville Community Unit School District 326. Statewide the count kept falling; by 2006 the Illinois State Board of Education reported 875 school districts.
Some of the buildings are still with us. Rice, Lehigh and Gibbs were private homes when they were photographed for this site in 2008 and 2009. Graham Chapel School from Elmwood Township was moved in 1977 to Wildlife Prairie Park west of Peoria, where the Pioneer Farmstead shows a one-room schoolhouse next to a log cabin. For pictures of schoolhouses that are gone, the Grassel Collection at the Peoria Public Library is the place to start, and the reference desk keeps an index to it.
Common questions
How many one-room schools were in Peoria County?
John Hayes counted 134 one-room schools in Peoria County in the 1930s, alongside 9 county schools of two rooms or more and 34 village, town and city grade schools. The 1945 list on this page runs to 149 numbered districts, from Hawley Gruner #1 in Akron Township to Oak Grove #149 in Trivoli Township.
Who was the first teacher in Peoria County?
According to the histories gathered by County Superintendent John Hayes, the first school inside the present county was taught by Peter Grant at Fort Clark in 1821. The first woman teacher was Mrs. Maria Harkness, who began in Ogee's log cabin and later taught a log school in what became District Number 30.
What is the Grassel Collection?
Ernest Grassel, who retired from Caterpillar Tractor Co. in 1973, photographed Peoria buildings for years and gave 82 volumes of photographs to the Peoria Public Library before moving to Arkansas in 1975. Many of the abandoned schoolhouse pictures on this site come from it. Ask at the main library's reference desk for the index.
When did Peoria County's one-room schools close?
Most closed between the mid-1940s and the late 1950s as country districts joined consolidated grade districts. Statewide, Illinois had about 12,000 one-room schoolhouse districts in 1940. The last step in Peoria County came around 1968 and 1969, when unit districts such as Illinois Valley Central 321 and Dunlap 323 were formed.
Where can I see a one-room schoolhouse near Peoria?
Wildlife Prairie Park, about ten miles west of downtown Peoria, has a one-room schoolhouse and a log cabin at its Pioneer Farmstead. The Graham Chapel School House from Elmwood Township, built in 1856, was moved to the park in 1977 and is kept as it looked around 1928 to 1930.