Logan Township
1945 Schools and consolidation history
Pinkerton School
District #71
1958 #318 Limestone Pinkerton1969 part #322 Elmwood part #324 Farmingtonpart #318 Limestone PinkertonCherry Forks School
District #72
1946 #304 Logan Cons.1969 #324Patton School
District #73
1925 #203 withdrawn Cons. Pleasant Grove1946 #3041969#324Pleasant Grove School
District #74
1925 #2031946 #3041969 #324Smithville School
District #75
1967 #304 by election1969 #324Hanna City School
District #204
1921 #2041969 #324Salem School
District #77
1951 #751967 #3041969 #324Harkers Corner
District #78
1959 #319 Westwood CC1969 #327Pinkerton School
District #71
The first school in district 71, then known as #1, of Peoria county, was taught by Miss Sarah Pinkerton during the summer of 1857, three years after she had moved to the community with her father from the eastern part of Ohio. The building was a small house which was on the farm when purchased by Ebenezer Pinkerton and which he had moved back of the place where he built his new one. After one year of school in this building the Pinkerton family had quite enough of the children running around their home like Indians so they decided to donate a small tract of land a quarter of a mile east of his home for the school to be located on. In the fall 1857, the district built this school. The building was about twenty by thirty feet and had windows on all sides. It was furnished like most of the early schoolhouses with hewn logs for desks and benches, which were placed along the sides of the room. The Electric series of books were used.
School was held in this old building for 60 years. These sixty years can be divided into three series, each containing twenty years. For the first twenty years the teacher’s salary was between twenty and twenty-five dollars and the year consisted of two terms, a winter term taught by a man and the summer term taught by a woman.
About the beginning of the second twenty year series, the M. & St. L. Railroad was built. The first grade that went through was south of the school and was intended to go from Peoria to Canton but this work was stopped during the Civil War and when it was started again, the grade was put through just north of the school and went toward Farmington. The road was known as the Farmington Railroad at that time. In those days it was no unusual thing for a wreck on the railroad and several occurred near the school much to the interest and education of the pupils. At this time also, the school board built an entrance hall on the original building, the teacher’s salaries were gradually increased form $25.00 to $40.00.
At the beginning of the third twenty years the partition was torn out between the entrance hall and the main room of the school, so that there would be more room in the building to accommodate the increasing enrollment. At the same time an addition was put on so as to make two cloakrooms, one for the girls and one for the boys. During this period the teacher’s salary increased from $40.00 to $65.00 per month and many of the teachers were given two and three year contracts. The reason for this being that they though the teacher could have much better success with the students the second year than she could the first.
In 1917 when money was quite free and times very good, the old building was sold at auction to a man who wanted to use it for a home. The district had decided to erect a new modern structure to comply with the new state regulations and laws. The new building was placed on a piece of ground about forty rods north of the old school site. This new building was constructed modern in everyway. It is equipped with a furnace, drinking water, electric light, and all the library and maps that are necessary for any grade school.
Cherry Forks
Cherry Forks School
District #72
The history of Cherry Fork School is one of unusual interest; coming as it does gradually from the dim unknown and unknowable past, it connects the life of the early settlers with the wonderful things of our modern life.
Cherry Fork School is situated in township number 8 North, range six East of the fourth principal meridian in section 10 in Logan Township, Peoria County, Illinois.
Early settlers coming from Cherry Fork in Adams County, Ohio named Cherry Fork School. This people settled here about 1840. The first schoolhouse was made about this same year. The structure was of logs and very similar to the other log schools of that time. This building served until 1853.
On March 30, 1864 Samuel Pinkerton and his wife gave a Warrantee deed to the property to the trustees of Logan Township. This deed was filed at the Peoria County Court House April 8, 1871.
In 1852, Sara Jane McIntyre was teacher in the old log building. One of her pupils, being now 85 years old but in good health and with a very keen mind, can recall this teacher very clearly: how she carried a switch around over her shoulder while teaching the class, for some of her pupils went until they were 26 years of age.
The first teacher to teach in the second building was Joe Yost. This was the first frame structure. Mr. Yost was well like and made quite a hit with the community, successfully getting some knowledge into the student’s minds.
The present school house was erected in 1879 by George Hoover. It was a wooden frame structure containing one room. About fifteen years later the district became #72, before this time it had been known as #2.
In 1920, district #72, along with districts 71 and 73, were consolidated and were known as district #204. This was done by a special election. In 1923 after most of the people were convinced that this was not a satisfactory arrangement, another election was held and district #73 pulled out of the consolidation and again became district #72.
A number of improvements have been added in the last few years. In 1929, C.C. Keel as contractor built a storm cave. The school is equipped with electric lights, piano, standard desks, individual drinking cups and wash pans, towels, a Ruby heating and ventilation system and has been made a standard school by filling all of the state requirements.
The school has won two diplomas, one for “Bookkeeping” and another from the department of public instruction of the State of Illinois given in 1915, and has a seal from the Tuberculosis Association for having a health program in 1929. The school district has the record of organizing three community clubs, the first one being also first to have been organized in the state.
The school district has many people in it who are interested in seeing that the school is one of the foremost in the county and with Helen Wasson as its present teacher, splendid cooperation has been had by all; this coupled with the fact that Professor John Arleigh Hayes whose liberal educational training has so well qualifies him for the responsible duties in educational circles, is now filling the position of our County Superintendent of Schools, to which he was elected in September 1910 and has been serving continually since. He holds a high standard in his work, is progressive in his methods, and under his direction Cherry Fork School is making substantial and practical advancement.
Patton School
District #73
Patton school is located on the Farmington road , 15 miles west of Peoria.
The school was organized in 1856 on land donated by Joseph B. Patton, and was named in his honor. The first schoolhouse was located eighty rods east of the present building. It has long benches for seats and the floor was earth. Mr. Maurice was the first teacher.
In 1872 the present schoolhouse was built. It was medium sized structure of one room and good equipment. Mr. Thadeus Simpson was the first teacher in the present school building. The playground is well sodded and has plenty of shade.
The early settlers of this district were as follows: Joseph B. Patton, Samuel Patton, William S. McCulough, William Kyle, George DuMars, A.O. Tuttle, and Jonah Stewart.
The enrolment of the Patton School has always been small. The largest number was twenty-three and the smallest four.
The district number was 3; later it was changed to #73, and now it is #209, forming a consolidated district with the Pleasant Grove School now #73,.
Pleasant Grove School
District #74
Pleasant Grove School District #74 of Peoria County started its history in 1835 when some of the Pioneer Fathers erected a log schoolhouse thirty rods east and across the road from where the present school stands The name was derived from the three Kimzey brothers who had moved their families in and settled in this locality.
The first school structure, which housed the children of these education-seeking pioneers, had three windows with oiled paper substituted for glass. There was a clapboard door in one side and a long wood stove in one end. The seats were made of trees split in half and pegs driven in the round side. The split side was dressed down as best they could with a broad axe. Desks which extended along three sides of the room were split logs, dressed similarly to the seats and fastened in the wall with pegs.
The ten or twelve children which attended the school sat with their backs to the school master who reposed in a split bottom chair before the stove, the fender of which furnished a comfortable support for his feet on cold winter days. Old Mother Earth served for a floor in this primitive institution of learning. The course of study consisted chiefly of spelling, reading, writing, geography and arithmetic. No two books in the school were alike. One of the boys who attended the school in the first years had no books so the teacher cut letters out of a newspaper and pasted them together so as to make the boy a reader.
Unlike the present day rural school, the school grounds were deserted at noon, the children all going home for their lunch, which in those days consisted invariably of meat, milk, and cornbread, a menu which would not have been relished cold.
The Methodist Episcopal Church as a meetinghouse used the little log school. The church was organized in 1840 with 18 members.
After the passing of the free school law, in 1855, district #4 now known as district #74, erected the stone building which as been in use for 76 years. Lobaugh, a stone mason of Smithville, built it.
The outside of the school has practically the same appearance as it did 76 years ago except for the addition of a hall and flagpole. The chimney has also been moved from the center of the building to the northwest corner. The interior has been greatly changed though. The room, which formerly took care of 40 to 50 pupils, is now utilized by 15 to 20 and ages vary from 6 to 14 where as they used to run from 6 to 21. The equipment included a large blackboard along the front of the building, a furnace, a large library and a piano.
In the early days of the stone building, the men and women who attended, that the building was infested with snakes, have told the story. It is told that one time a snake got in the attic and crawled down through the ceiling and was on the teacher’s desk before anyone saw it. At the present time a mouse is even considered quite rare at the school and no snakes have been seen for years.
In 1925, district #73 and district #74 combined into a consolidated such district. At the time this was done there was some talk of forming a consolidated school in a nearly district and taking them in. Neither district was in favor of it so they formed their own consolidated district and their schools have been operated in the same way as before with the exception of having a board composed of men from each previous district formed into one board and passing on details for both schools.
Following is a transcription from the 'A Grandparent's Journal' as written by Zella McAlister Schoaff Sill, written in the late 1980's.
My Mother, she was born in Peoria Co., Illinois north of Trivoli and south east of Elmwood, in August of 1908. Her parents were Clarence and Clara Bertie McMeen McAlister. She married Clyde Ignatius Schoaff in 1927 and they had three children, Elva, Marvin and Paul Schoaff. Clyde and Zella divorced around 1950 and she remarried Charley Sill.
In January of 2004 she passed away suddenly at the home she shared with Elva Schoaff Harper, in Peoria, IL.
paul schoaff
page 22..."When we moved to the Pleasant Grove farm I was still in first grade and my Aunt Mary was in the eighth grade there -- that helped a lot. This was also a one-room school with John V. Troth as our teacher of eight grades and a course of 'teacher's training' for the older ones. He wouldn't tell us his middle name so some secretly called
him John 'Vinegar'. He was very sweet and didn't deserve that nickname. The school building was built of native rock. There had been a rock quarry down the hollow from the school. There was a building for coal and corncobs and two outhouses. There was a red-haw tree on the south side and hickory nuts - acorns - plenty of room to play games
"The next year we had Fulton Miller and he was also very nice. Early in my third year he decided to put me in the fourth grade because I could work the fractions just as well as his 4th graders. My Papa was furious --- meanwhile I spent every waking moment trying to catch up with the class, doing pages and pages or arithmetic. I loved it but Papa was even angry because I needed so much tablet paper. And, maybe, the folks were right. When I graduated from 8th grade at 12 years of age, just a tomboy -- and going to live with grandparents in Hanna City to attend 9th grade. I was her bashful little housemaid. I had won a Normal scholarship by having the best grades in the county, but my folks wouldn't let me use it by going to Normal to live with their friends.
page 32..."Christmas....when we were kids in school might have been like it is today. There were usually around a dozen pupils. We had a program on a Friday afternoon before Christmas. Each one spoke a piece. Then sang a few songs -- Santa came in and passed out the gifts from the one who had drawn your name. We each took a gift to the teacher and Santa gave each one there (grownups and all) an orange and a sack of candy. There was a Christmas tree that had been cut in someone's woods but of course we didn't have electricity for lights on it.
"It was funny to see the grownups try to squeeze into the seats -- and to see all the little ones in the neighborhood, too.
"When we were very young, I remember going to Pleasant Grove Sunday School right there beside our school house. It was a Methodist Church and the one in Eden was a United Presbyterian. Both those buildings have been torn down. The Fishers? Bought the one at Pleasant Grove and used the materials to build their home down near Glasford.
Gypsies...I told you about the gypsies over at the schoolhouse? They would go from one schoolhouse to another and camp, and they were camped at Pleasant Grove Schoolhouse, and, of course, that was just a short distance from our place, and he was afraid that they'd come over and steal things at night. It had just gotten dark and here came a horse that they had tethered out and it had got loose. It came up to the front of our house in the yard there, you know? It was marked with different colors so that it looked just like a horse with a saddle on it standing out there. Dad got us kids and took us to a room in the back of the house upstairs. Mom was to keep us there, and he got a gun and sneaked out the back door and sneaked around there to see what was going on. Came back and told us to go to bed, that it was just a horse. Well! How would you sleep after that?...The gypsies came to get it the next morning. One of the first things we were told was that Gypsies would kidnapus.
page 57...."Grade School Graduation"....."I know that some of this is repetition but isn't that the way I talk?
"When I was in the eighth grade we had to go to a bigger school to take our final exams. There were four of us in the class, two girls and two boys. Bertie Stuck and I rode to Glasford with her father because he was doing carpenter work there. It was comforting to me to see two of my aunts there with children from their schools. The two boys, Lloyd Goff and Earl Kimsey, went to Trivoli to take their tests. We all passed. Then I received word that I would be Valedictorian in Glasford.
"Mama made me a white dotted swiss dress with a big fancy collar and bought me some patent leather shoes.
"The big day came and it rained. And there were no paved roads and few graveled ones. In the new Maxwell we went miles out of the way to avoid the big hills -- but we made it -- to the big lodge hall where I had to sit on the stage with the V. I. P.'s OH, I was so bashful! I used a short poem from "the Public Speaker", and how I wish I could find that
"I think the main reason for starting a ninth grade in Hanna City was to encourage the miners sons to stay in school instead of going down in the mine with their fathers. One the days when the mine wasn't working some of the young fellows showed up and Mr. Mulvaney spent a lot of time lecturing them about staying in school
page 58...."The Hanna City School rented an old store building -- with a furnace in one corner -- no water -- out of door toilet -- Mr. Mulvaney taught seventh, eighth and ninth grades. Papa arranged for me to live with his folks and go there. He had to pay tuition and board......Besides that, I had to help Grandma with the work -- for she had just had a breast removed and needed all the help she could get.
"Although they lived in the 'city' they had no modern conveniences -- not even electricity. There was a kitchen range -- and two heating stoves -- I carried in most of the coal and carried out all of the ashes. I cleaned the lamps and filled them with kerosene, carried the chamber pots to the backhouse out by the alley and carried in all of the water. And, Hanna City water wasn't fit to drink
"I cleaned her parlor every other day, but in the parlor was a piano and I got to practice on it and walked across town to Aunt Mary White's to take lessons. It didn't do much good for we didn't have anything to play on at home.
"Grandpa worked nearby at the lumberyard and we both came home to eat at noon. Grandma did the cooking and I helped do dishes.
page 59...."Most of the time, I got to go home on Friday night, until Sunday night. On Saturdays, Mama helped me wash and iron my clothes. I had three outfits -- a plaid dress and a white blouse, which I wore with a jumper or a skirt.
"I got to tell the younger kids everything I'd learned all week. Latin -- algebra-- sentence and theme -- science -- physical geography.
"I think the main reason for starting a ninth grade in Hanna City was to encourage the miners sons to stay in school instead of going down in the mine with their fathers. One the days when the mine wasn't working some of the young fellows showed up and Mr. Mulvaney spent a lot of time lecturing them about staying in school
"There was no place for sports. Horseshoe pegs were driven over across the street between the sidewalk and the side of a store building. That was right up my alley -- I could beat all the girls -- but wasn't allowed to play the boys.
page 60..."At Grandma's I had a room just off the kitchen on the northwest corner of the house -- hot in summer and frigid in winter. Mama gave me a dollar a week allowance and I spent it on Jergens Lotion
"On Monday Morning I filled the wash boiler to heat and Grandpa rolled out the washing machine -- a wringer washer with a big handle that you pulled and pushed back and forth to activate the dolly. By school time, Aunt Mary came in to help finish the wash and hang the clothes to dry. Grandma used her homemade soap and bluing and lots of starch! The windows steamed up and Grandma crumple up old newspapers to dry them and make them shine.
"Whenever something happened that I didn't get to go home for the weekend, I walked to church with Grandma to the same Methodist Church that Elva attends now. Then in the afternoon I would go to the Presbyterian Church. That way, I'd get to see a lot of my schoolmates.
page 61..."It cost a quarter to ride the train round trip Eden to Hanna City. One time papa came over to see his folks and to ride back to Eden with me.
"The passenger train was late and the Local freight came along first and asked papa if we wanted to ride with them in the caboose. Betcha none of you ever rode a Freight Train! Anyway, we got off at Eden and started walking west on the tracks out behind the freight train to get to the farm. Its noise kept us from hearing the passenger train coming up behind us. Suddenly Papa grabbed my arm, threw me down over the bank and jumped down after me! I guess our heavy winter clothes kept us from hearing the train's whistle...
page 62..."At the end of eight months, the board of directors told Mr. Mulvaney that they couldn't afford to run the school another month -- so he told us to come back one more day for tests and he would work that day free to see that we got credit for the year's work.
"The next year those 8th and 9th graders went to Trivoli High or Peoria Manuel or Peoria High. All but me.
" I met Mr. and Mrs. Mulvaney and family on the street in Hanna City one time and he agreed that I was getting my education in the School of Hard Knocks...
Smithville School
District #75
The first school in the vicinity of Smithville was taught by John L. Clark in the winter 1836 in log house in Section 36 on land owned by Andrew Parr.
Mr. Clark also taught the first school in what is now District 75, Section 22, in 1853. This school was held in his home. He was also one of the attendants at the first Teacher’s Institute in the county. Later school was held just southwest of the present school building. This early schoolhouse was made of logs.
A few years later a new frame building was erected in the town. It still remains and is in fair condition. It is now used for the township hall. School was held in this building until 1872 when the present schoolhouse was built. Spelling bees and singing school were held in both of these buildings.
Thadeous Simpson, who later became clerk of the circuit court, was the first teacher in the present school building. The first year of high school and a teacher’s course was taught here for several years.
The present building is in excellent condition. Much valuable assistance and equipment has been provided for the school by the Home and School Association, which was organized in 1927.
Harkers Corner
District #78
Harkers Corner School district #78 of Peoria County was one of the early schools being organized in 1837. Due to the fact that there had to be a certain number of pupils in a district before it could be legally organized, a good many of the pupils that were sent in the first few years were under school age. Several of the pupils were three and four years of age and the teacher had considerable trouble teaching them the alphabet. The first school was a log structure built on a piece of land donated by Mr. Harker, for whom the district was named. The seats were built of split logs made as smooth as broad axes could make them and were supported by pigs driven in auger holes. The desks were made by inserting pegs in the wall and placing split logs on top of them. The heat was furnished by a great large fire place which sent most of the heat up the chimney and the windows are covered with oiled paper, which let more cold in the room than light and so
we see that the education of the early days as far from pleasant and in most every way different from our modern system. About 1868 the Norwood District was dissolved and part of the district came into district #76. Wit the increase in size of the district and natural increase in families; the school building was though to be inadequate so a frame structure was erected the same year. The building was made 33 feet long and 24 feet wide. Two doors were place in the front of their building and between the doors a rostrum about eight inches high was built. On this teacher’s desk was place. The rostrum also served another purpose. When some of the pupils became unruly, the teacher made them come up and sit on the edge of it and face the rest of the school.
In 1909 the seats were taken up and put down so as to have them facing the north. At the same time the stove, which had stood in the center of the room, was placed on the west side. In 1914 it was put on the standard school list and in 1915 a new heater was placed in the southwest corner, covered wit ha steel jacket, which causes the room to be much more evenly, and satisfactorily heated. At the same time a new chimney was built. In 1916 new single seats were place in the building and the school became modern in every respect.
Shortly after 1868, the Presbyterian people of the community started holding Sunday School and a short time later they added church services every other Sunday. This continued for a few years and was dropped because of lack of interest. Later the Methodist and Baptist followers started services and continued for many years. All of these church influences probably had something to do with the producing of a Methodist Minister from its ranks, the Rev. Charles Van Dettum.
Hanna City School
District #76
Hanna City School # 76 was first taught in a one-room school with all eight grades. The building was located near the water tower across from the present City Hall on North First St. Later another room was added and grades were split. Two teachers were employed and they also did all the janitor work, with students helping to take out ashes and bring in coal for the pot-bellied stove. There was no electricity until about 1913.
In 1921, Districts 71,72, and 76 consolidated for one year and the combination becam Dist #203. District 71 and 72 voted out one year later. In the 1920’s school was held for the 7th, 8th, and 9th grade students in a building near the corner of S. Main and Manna Streets. Some of the pupils who attended this school were: Junius McCreight, Marshall McCullough, Earl Bitner, Mildred Fuller, Thelma “Topsy” Ewalt and Zella McAlister. Many of the boys missed a lot o school because they also worked in the coal mine. This school was short-lived and closed by a lack of funds.
In 1924 the small school by the water tower had become too crowded so a new four-room school was built. While the building was being erected some students attended classes at the Methodist Church and above the former I.O.O.F. Mall.
In 1925 the new school with basement was finished. Only three rooms were used as classrooms, with one all purpose room. By the 1930’s all the rooms were used with first grade having sessions in the hall. In 1953, two more classrooms were added to the east, for a 1st and 2nd grade and 1954 a gym was added. As the community grew so did the school, and 1958 two more classrooms were added to the north and Hanna City had its first eight-room school with an enrollment of 187 pupils. As new school codes and laws protecting students became more numerous, the old school was demolished in 1964. The gym and four recently built classrooms remain standing.
July 1, 1969, changes were again to occur when Hanna City Grade School became a part of the Farmington East Unit School District. The 5th-8th grades were bussed to Logan. By 1975 the 4th grade was also bussed to Logan, which leaves kindergarten through 3rd at Hanna City. There is an Early Childhood Education Class taught in the Hanna City School by the Peoria Co. Education Dept., know as Seapco. Special education classes are provided by F.E. district for area students who qualify.
Farmington District built a new school in ?? at the east end of Farmington and the all grades on the entire district attend school at this campus.
Residence on Route #116 2009.
Residence on Route #116 2009.
Pleasant Grove School built in 1835
Thanks to Paul Schoaff for sharing his mother's journal.
History of the Trivoli Area
by Laura Jane Davis (The book of everything you ever wanted to know about the history of Trivoli and surrounding area is located at the Farmington Library)
In 1855, and five years before the Civil War broke out the farmers here were making plans to build a stone school in the “Pleasant Grove” of trees east of Pleasant Grove Methodist Episcopal Church.
This new Pleasant Grove School was erected in 1856 by a stonemason from Smithville, Illinois by the name of Joel Lobaugh. Some of the Lobaugh children later attended the school. Water was procured at a nearby spring for this work. Records do not reveal who cut and shaped the timbers, but there were a number of qualified men in the area that probably helped with that. This building, still standing 1989, measures approximately 28 ½ by 25 ½ feet with the walls being about two feet thick. It stands about ten feet to the eaves and five feet taller at the peak of the roof. The chimney was originally located near the center of the room and extended slightly to the west side of the ridge of the roof. The original floor was side slab boards. The heat was supplied by either a six-foot square fireplace, or a long stove according to various reports. This information is from an old school record book, dating 1850-1886.
Information from Dorothy McAlister Isbell
Half term commencing October 10, 1859 and ending March 30, 1860 reportedly had 41 girls boys and 31 girls in attendance. However, an epidemic of whooping cough and much irregular attendance made the average attendance stand at 41. Many of the older children, especially the boys took time out from their schooling to help their parents with the farming. There were older students in the winter sessions and younger ones in the summer terms.
The chimney was moved to the northwest corner in 1913. A large round furnace was installed at a later date (1920’s). Blackboards extended the entire width of the south wall.
In July of 1876, William F. Kimzey built a coalhouse on the northeast corner of the schoolyard. He was paid $45.00 for that work and for some coal. Later he was paid $25.00 for the balance of that debt. A storage shed was located across the fence from the southwest corner of the schoolyard. The church and cemetery workers used it. A small frame lean-to was built on the back of the school to stable the teacher’s horse. Outdoor toilets were placed in the school yard, the boys on the west side of the school and the girl’s in the southeast corner of the school yard. There was a beautiful big tree in the southeast portion of the schoolyard. Several trees were to the west. One fondly named “Beulah” is said to have been planted the day that Edith Kimzey Manuel was born, September 28, 1889 and that tree still stands.
After World War II in 1946, a need for bigger schools arose with the increasing population situation. Consolidations of small schools was being tested. Pleasant Grove pupils attended Cherry Fork for a time. A four-room room school was built near Eden, Illinois with the first classes held there in 1954. Many schools consolidated into this school. By 1969, the new present Farmington East Unit District was voted in and the new buses carried students to various school buildings in the area.
In 1946, Pleasant Grove Church was used for the last time. The church was sold at auction. The proceeds were divided between the Trivoli and Hanna City Methodist Church building funds. In 1952, the Methodist Episcopal Church Conference and acting trustees of this church deeded the church and cemetery grounds to the Logan Township Pleasant Grove Cemetery Association, Inc. This same organization had purchased the Pleasant Grove School and grounds, which adjoined the cemetery for $1725.00 when sold at auction October 25, 1967. For many years Pleasant Grove and other interested people have taken very good care of the property
In 1908 a group of lakes organized their Pleasant Grove Cemetery Association and elected Sarah E. McAlister Dumars it’s first president. Their purpose was to care, maintain, and improve the cemetery grounds. A certificate for corporation papers was filed February 24, 1938 for this non-profit organization. Leatha Morris, Delitha Anderson and Adeline Quinn signed the papers and the name for the group was the Pleasant Grove Cemetery Association, Inc. The directors were Mable Sipp, Maude Kirkman, Edith Manuel, Edna Dieken, Bessie Cottingham, Blanche McDonald and Bessie Couch..
A few things have been changed in the cemetery recently. A marker has been place where the old church stood, inscribed with a summation of the history of the area. Two cement benches grace this area and a third marble bench has been placed by the cement wall. Their children donated these benches as memorial to Laurence and Bertie McAlister. Some of the furnishings from the inside of the old school are gone as well as the playground equipment and several buildings on the school grounds. The stone building stil looks much the same as it did 137 years ago. It has one new mark since the summer of 1982. The Historic Landmark Committee of the Central Illinois Landmark Foundations recognized this building as being of historical merit and allowed the Pleasant Grove Cemetery Association the option of purchasing a marker signifying this. This was done and the marker was placed above the front door. This was the first such marker placed outside the city of Peoria.
Teachers at the Pleasant Grove School built in 18561858 Thomas W. Maurice
1862 John Van Petten
1963 summer John Clark
1963 Isaac Esssick
1965 summer Annie M. Keller
1865 B. F. Stockwell
1866 summer Mary Pettit
1866 Jennie E. Pettit
1867 David Hopkins
1870 S. A. Tagg
1872 Ella Patterson
1874 summer Eliza Cottingham
1874 Minnie Harper
1875 Eliza Cottingham
1875 W. J. Van Petten
1876 Ella Patterson
1877 Annie Asbell
1878 Saida Hurff
1878 Clyde Kleffman
1878 Minnie Harper
1879 Minnie Harper
1881 Ollie Parr
1882 Jennie Wiley
1882 Job R. Stone
1883 Mary Kleffman
1883 J.R. Stone
1884 Hettie Coon (Tena)
1884 Esabell (Belle) Van Petten
1885 Hettie M. Coon
1885 Sarah Parr
1885 Lillie McStravick, Mary Helen Gallager, Mary Burgens, Everett Meeker, George McCormick, Mrs. Frazier, Agnes Harmon, Ella Corrington
1894 Mary Watson
1895 Lena Kellogg
1896 spring Ida Adams
1896 fall Mary Watson
1897 Newton D. Gaston
1998 Mrs. S.C. Filley or Finley
1899 Newton Gaston
1900 H.A. Perrin
1901 Ida Blandin
1904 Cora Clemmer
1905 Ada Stewart
1907 Clara Brown
1908 Georgia Kyle
1913 Ora Cottingham and Hazel Gibson
1914 John Troth
1916 Fulton Miller
1917 Anna Burk
1919 Velma McMeen
1920 Elsie Cogdall
1921 Clara Williams
1922 Alma Allgaier
1923 Alma Allgaier
1924 Esther Beal
1927 Myrtle Hall
1928 Ada Gerdes
1929 Thelma Ewalt
1933 Evelyn Glasford
1934 Laura Zessin
1940 Lera Jackson
1942 Dorothy Weaver
1943 Delia Nichols
1944-46 Ethelyn Crozier.
Cemetery located next to Pleasant Grove School
Former school used as a residence in Smithville
Local Community Center
In 1982 Pleasant Grove School was
awarded Marker for Historical Merit by the Central Illinois Landmark Foundations. Click here to read original application.
Harkers Corner School District #78
Harkers Corner School District #78 of Peoria County was one of the early schools being organized in 1837. Due to the fact that there had to be a certain number of pupils in a district before it could be legally organized, a good many of the pupils that were sent in the first few years were under school age. Several of the pupils were three and four years of age and the teacher had considerable trouble teaching them the alphabet. The first school was a log structure built on a piece of land donated by Mr. Harker, for whom the district was named. The seats were built of split logs made as smooth as broad axes could make them and were supported by pigs driven in auger holes. The desks were made by inserting pegs in the wall and placing split logs on top of them. The heat was furnished by a great large fire place which sent most of the heat up the chimney and the windows are covered with oiled paper, which let more cold in the room than light and so .we see that the education of the early days as far from pleasant and in most every way different from our modern system. About 1868 the Norwood District was dissolved and part of the district came into district #76. Wit the increase in size of the district and natural increase in families; the school building was though to be inadequate so a frame structure was erected the same year. The building was made 33 feet long and 24 feet wide. Two doors were placed in the front of their building and between the doors a rostrum about eight inches high was built. On this teacher’s desk was place. The rostrum also served another purpose. When some of the pupils became unruly, the teacher made them come up and sit on the edge of it and face the rest of the school.In 1909 the seats were taken up and put down so as to have them facing the north. At the same time the stove, which had stood in the center of the room, was placed on the west side. In 1914 it was put on the standard school list and in 1915 a new heater was placed in the southwest corner, covered wit ha steel jacket, which causes the room to be much more evenly, and satisfactorily heated. At the same time a new chimney was built. In 1916 new single seats were place in the building and the school became modern in every respect.Shortly after 1868, the Presbyterian people of the community started holding Sunday School and a short time later they added church services every other Sunday. This continued for a few years and was dropped because of lack of interest. Later the Methodist and Baptist followers started services and continued for many years. All of these church influences probably had something to do with the producing of a Methodist Minister from its ranks, the Rev. Charles Van Dettum.
