By Melanie Holmes
May brings graduation season and, with that, it’s good timing to ask if anyone knows the number of high schools that have been built in the Village of Manteno since its incorporation in 1869. First, some facts: Less than 10 percent of American students completed the 12th grade in 1900, and about 75 percent had less than an eighth grade education. Manteno has grown exponentially since the 1990s, which impacted the school system. With all this in mind, how many high schools have been built?
Do not include the “all grades” school on South Walnut, built in 1876 to house mostly younger kids (look again at the above stats through 1900). Manteno native and “photography genius” of international acclaim, George Lawrence, attended that school; he completed eighth grade (circa 1880).
The 20th Century saw the rise of kids staying in school longer, and this necessitated the erection of Manteno Township High School in 1926, on N. Maple Street (between Second and Third Streets), which was razed several years ago.
An all-girls boarding school, Our Lady Academy (OLA), was built adjacent to St. Joseph’s Church on South Main (1907), and a second, much larger Academy was added on S. Walnut (1919). Though male students attended the larger school through eighth grade, it was only girls for high school.
By 1954, a new high school was built on Poplar. Then just 20 years later, in fall 1974, another new high school opened and was, at the time, at the north edge of town on North Maple. This school still operates as today’s Manteno High School, though it’s been enlarged as the town’s population grew.
The number of structures built in the village for high-schoolers stands at five – two parochial school buildings and three built by the village or township (1926, 1954, 1974). Questions or feedback may be sent to the author of this column at holmesauthor11@gmail.com.
Melanie Holmes has written five books, including 2020’s “Manteno/Images of America” (Arcadia Publishing) and her newest, an Illinois bucket list book – in Reedy Publishing’s nationwide line of books (www.reedypress.com).