TH UR SDA Y , S E P T E M B E R 8, 2016
COUNTY WIDE YOUR HOME AND FAMILY NEWS FROM ALL OF KENDALL COUNTY
KendallCountyNow.com
When school was all in 1 room Tiny schools thrived here until districts consolidated in mid-20th century By ROGER MATILE news@kendallcountynow.com Drive around Kendall County, and keep watch at country road intersections. If you look sharp you are very likely to happen upon a relic of county education history. One-room schools once dotted the county, providing rural youngsters’ education in first through eighth grades. Dozens of these one-room buildings were constructed over the years to serve youngsters living generally within two miles of the school. Consolidation of the county’s one-room schools began early in the 20th century and was completed by the late 1950s. After individual one-room school districts – there were some 90 of them over the years – had consolidated with one of the county’s town school districts, the buildings were sold at auction. Some were moved and turned into farm out-buildings and private residences, while others remained on their one-acre sites at country intersections where they were converted into family homes. Those are the ones that remind knowledgeable travelers of an era of public education that’s gone, and rapidly being forgotten. The era of the one-room school in Kendall County started well before the era of tax-supported public schools. Pioneers, mainly those who arrived from northeastern states, considered educating their children to assure they’d become good citizens and responsible voters an absolute necessity. Since there was no public tax mechanism then in place, schools were established by subscription. Sometimes residents, and sometimes itinerant teachers, approached parents and gathered subscriptions to establish a grade school. Teachers received slim pay, and generally “boarded around,” receiving a bed and meals from subscribing parents until the school term was over. Early county historians counted nearly 125 such subscription schools in the era before the Illinois General Assembly approved public financing. By the mid-1850s, school districts supported by property taxes were authorized to be established in the state’s townships. Each rural school district was governed by a three-member board of school direc-
Photo provided by the Little White School Museum
Students enjoying a snack in front of the fireplace at Church School in September 1944. Pictured are (front row, from left) Louise Norris, Clarence Cunningham, Elizabeth Jane Goudie, (second row) Shirley Welsh, Elaine Matile, Sarah Lynn Stewart, (third row) Carolyn Nadelhoffer, Eileen Matile, teacher Miss Brahman, (back row) Dorothy Cunningham, Bill Patterson and Bob Gilmour. Photo taken by Prairie Farmer magazine. tors. They, in turn were overseen by elected township school trustees. Not until the late 1800s was the office of county superintendent of schools established to supervise rural schools’ curriculum and staff. In rural schools, a single teacher was responsible for teaching up to 40 students in eight grades, along with cleaning the building, making sure there was a fire in the stove on cold mornings, and maintain-
ing discipline among a student body ranging from 6 to sometimes 20 years of age. Among the many challenges teachers in those early years often faced was a lack of formal education. Most teachers during the late 1800s and early 1900s were high school graduates. Not until after the first quarter of the 20th century did some rural schools begin requiring at least some college. In the 1950s, the Illinois Superin-
tendent of Instruction, through a variety of programs, strongly encouraged teachers without four-year degrees to go back and earn their diplomas, and a bachelor’s degree gradually became the minimum requirement for new teachers. Until the 1940s, the great majority of rural students never attended high school,
See ONE-ROOM SCHOOLS, page 5