School Archives1858–1867
The first public schools
The first public school in Maroa opened in 1858–1859. No school building had yet been erected, but nearly two dozen children of school age lived in the village and immediate neighborhood. The community fitted up a vacant frame building that had housed railroad construction crews, and the first public school was held there in the fall of 1858.
Robert Collins was the teacher. The Board of Directors consisted of Joseph Jones, Garrett Schenck, and O. J. Harlan. The pupils included children from the Jones, Walter, Grady, Hedger, Schenck, Barger, and Rogers families.
A new frame schoolhouse was built in the summer of 1859 on the north portion of the grounds later occupied by the school at East Main and South Locust Streets. A severe windstorm on March 31, 1861, lifted the building from its foundation and carried it about ten feet east. Classes moved to temporary quarters while the building was repaired.
By 1864 the school population had grown enough to require two teachers, both teaching in the same room. Work began on a new two-story, four-room brick building in 1866. The first term there began October 5, 1867.
1867–1890
A growing school system
The 1867 board consisted of George W. Conover, A. Franklin, and John Marsh. Principal C. A. McLean organized the schools into grades as well as conditions allowed. A two-room east wing was added in 1887.
In 1875, a one-room frame schoolhouse was built at the rear of the school lot. By 1877, the school employed a principal and four teachers, whose average monthly wage was approximately $45 to $50. Two additional acres east of the school grounds were purchased for $500 in 1882.
1890–1940
A board of education and a modern building
By 1890, Maroa’s population required school affairs to pass from a board of directors to a Board of Education consisting of a president and six members. The first board elected under the new arrangement included president Dr. E. A. Morgan and members A. J. Lutz, Albert Furman, Theodore Schafer, F. C. Brown, J. G. Happer, and Charles Huff.
A steam heating plant was soon purchased for the brick school. W. C. “Ted” Dine became janitor and remained in that position until July 16, 1941, completing almost 52 years of service. Improvements in 1895 included concrete walks and an extension of the city water mains to the school grounds.
A new school building was erected during 1914–1915. It contained twelve classrooms, an assembly room, and a small gymnasium. In 1940, Maroa Elementary School became the first school in Illinois to receive a Certificate of Superior Rating under a new Program of Recognition. Loren Lewis was principal at the time.
1947–1953
Consolidation and expansion
In the spring of 1947, approximately fourteen grade schools in Maroa Township and southern DeWitt County consolidated with Maroa Grade School to form the Maroa Community Consolidated School. Two buses were purchased that summer to bring children into town.
The following spring, a new law again changed the system. The grade school and high school districts consolidated under one Board of Education, forming the Community Unit district.
As enrollment grew, the school soon became overcrowded. In 1953, four classrooms and a gymnasium were added on the south. The old gymnasium became a kitchen and lunchroom for the hot lunch program, while the former assembly room was used for visual aids.
Starting with two dozen pupils and one teacher in 1858, in a village of but a few scattered houses, the schools gradually and constantly grew until enrollment exceeded three hundred elementary pupils.
Adapted from the Maroa Centennial Book, 1954
2004–2012
The close of an era
After the new Maroa-Forsyth Grade School opened in Forsyth in 2004, the Maroa Grade School property was sold to the City of Maroa. The original portion of the old school building was demolished in 2012.
