Townships
Pick a township to read the histories of its country schools, district by district.
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.