No. 10 N., R. 9 E.
- #23 Rome: 1945 teachers Evalean Gerstner P, 1-4; Thelma L. Alvord 5-8; 1968 Chillicothe #321
Rome School, District Number 23
Rome is older than either Peoria or Chillicothe.
Isaac Underhill and Hezkiah S. Rose were two of the earliest settlers. They came here in covered wagons and lived in log cabins.
Isaac Underhill plotted Rome into city lots in December 1835. These sturdy pioneers soon saw the need for an education for the children of the fast growing settlement.
School was first held about 1835 in the upper story of an old log house, which stood near the river on the present site of the Richard Defoe home. The children entered the room by means of a stairs along the side of the house.
It is said the teachers had hedgethorne sticks hanging from the ceiling to frighten the children to make them behave. The stove stood in the center of the room. The long wooden benches were drawn up close around it to keep warm.
About 1848 the first public schoolhouse was built on the present site. It was replaced during the summer of 1901 by the present frame structure, which was built by K.S. Rose.
We are greatly indebted to Richard DeFoe, Frank Grestner and Anton Wilhelm who were the directors at that time; for it only through their untiring efforts that Rome was able to secure such a fine school building. The building alone cost $1800. The in it came from the steamboat, Hebee, which had burned in the waters near Rome in about 1819.
Today this same building has been remodeled, a modern plumbing system added, equipped with the latest model of school seats. It has been so successfully modernized that Rome School was able to win second place in the ? Contest conducted by the Peoria County Tuberculosis Association during the school year 1930-1931.
Some of the early teachers are Birgim Young, Mrs. Wenthonre, Jake Moffit, Vesta Proctor, Charles Cook, Mrs. Clapp, and Mrs. Parker.
The early directors were Sam Gill, Nick Wilhelm, Mr. Proctor, Levi Ferguson, and Lewis Droll.
Several years ago the Rome Dramatic Club was organized under the able direction of its president, _____. It has presented some of the best amateur acting in the county. The Rome School is indebted to the club for much of their equipment.
John Hayes
Where Rome's children went
Rome School, District #23, finished its run as a two-teacher school. In 1945 Evalean Gerstner taught the primary grades, first through fourth, and Thelma L. Alvord had grades five through eight. The district table on this page records that in 1968 Rome became part of the Chillicothe district, numbered 321.
That district is Illinois Valley Central Unit District 321, organized in 1968 with Dr. A. Lee Aeschliman as its first superintendent. It covers the northeast corner of Peoria County and takes in Chillicothe, Mossville and Rome. Rome children today go to Chillicothe Elementary Center, South Elementary School or Mossville School, and then to Illinois Valley Central High School in Chillicothe, which most people around here simply call IVC.
You will not find a Rome Township on a modern county map. Rome is counted as a census-designated place inside Chillicothe Township, one of the Peoria County townships set up on November 6, 1849. The census found 1,604 people in Rome in 2020, down from 1,738 in 2010.
The history printed above was written while the 1901 frame schoolhouse was still in use, a few years after it placed second in a Peoria County Tuberculosis Association contest for the 1930-1931 school year. We have not found a record of what became of that building after Rome joined the unit district. If you know, or have a photograph of the school or of the Rome Dramatic Club, the Peoria Public Library, which holds the Ernest Grassel photograph collection used across this site, is a good home for it, and we would be glad to add it here.
Common questions
Where was the Rome one-room school in Peoria County?
Rome School was District #23, in the river settlement of Rome, in what the old survey called Township 10 North, Range 9 East. Classes began about 1835 in the upper story of a log house near the river. The first public schoolhouse went up about 1848, and a frame building put up by K.S. Rose replaced it in the summer of 1901. Rome is now a census-designated place in Chillicothe Township.
What school district serves Rome, Illinois today?
Rome is in Illinois Valley Central Unit District 321. The district table on this page shows Rome School #23 joining the Chillicothe district, #321, in 1968, the year the unit district was organized. Its schools are Illinois Valley Central High School and Chillicothe Elementary Center in Chillicothe, South Elementary School, and Mossville School in Mossville.
Who taught at the Rome School?
The page lists early teachers Birgim Young, Mrs. Wenthonre, Jake Moffit, Vesta Proctor, Charles Cook, Mrs. Clapp and Mrs. Parker. By 1945 the school had two teachers: Evalean Gerstner, principal, with grades one to four, and Thelma L. Alvord with grades five to eight. Early directors included Sam Gill, Nick Wilhelm, Mr. Proctor, Levi Ferguson and Lewis Droll.
How old is the settlement of Rome in Peoria County?
The 1930s school history claims Rome is older than either Peoria or Chillicothe. Isaac Underhill and Hezkiah S. Rose were among the first settlers, arriving by covered wagon and living in log cabins, and Underhill platted Rome into city lots in December 1835. School started about the same year in a log house by the river.