History of the
Mount Pulaski School System
1841 - 1930

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       The school system of Mount Pulaski, Illinois, was organized in 1841.  The first school was held from September to December, 1841, on the property of George Turley, one of the founders of Mount Pulaski.  The means to carry on the work was by private subscriptions and donations.  The school business was directed by three trustees, whose duty it was to direct and provide for suitable quarters and maintain finances.  This system continued until 1845, when a new school building was built of frame in the east part of town.

       Being the first suitable building in town, it was used as a City Hall and Church as well as a school.  The expense was met by district taxes.
  The third change was in 1857, when the State of Illinois Legislature passed a bill on February 19th, 1857, donating the Mount Pulaski Court House (formerly the Logan County County Seat: 1848 - 1855) to the city of Mount Pulaski for school purposes.  Improvements were made and this arrangement continued until 1877.
  The fourth change was in 1877, when the school was moved from the court house to a new building erected on the present location of the grade school (east side of town).  This was one of the best school buildings of its time, containing eight rooms for grades; one large room for the high school grades; two class rooms and one physical laboratory on the first floor, and library and superintendent's room on the third floor.  The high school course was four years:  ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth years, with regular class graduation.  In 1910, the high school had an enrollment in the four years course of 48 pupils, or an average of 37 pupils (grades 1 through 12).
This wonderful building burned on October 8th, 1910 (see below).

1911 fire completely destroyed 1-12 school building
    The fifth change was made following the destruction of our fine school.  The Board of Trustees decided to divide the elementary grades and the high school.  Hence, in 1911, the Board, after the vote of the people, authorized construction of a new grade school.
  The sixth change occurred at this time with the new Mount Pulaski Township High School District organized under the new Township High School Law.  A bond issue of $45,000.00 was voted upon and used in the building and grounds.  The construction of the high school was finished in 1912, which remains a part of the present-day high school facility. 
     In 1928, a new addition was proposed and a $20,000.00 bond issue was approved by the voters.  The present addition was completed at cost, with equipment and furnishings costing about $60,000.00; most of which was saved from taxes paid in as well as special fees from the State and outside districts.

This article was written by J.M. Rothwell for the "Hilltop" year book of 1930.  It was reprinted in the Mount Pulaski Township High School Open House bulletin of May 28th, 1937, assembled by Dolph Stanley.

                                                                                   more on: MT. PULASKI SCHOOLS

The first schools of Mt. Pulaski were subscription, or "pay schools". One of the first such schools in the neighborhood was conducted in 1841 by Silas R. Alexander on the premises of George W. Turley. The scholars enrolled in one term were: John and James Sims; John Mason; Mary, Martha, Elizabeth and Henry C. Turley; Jackson Cartmell; Washington, Maria, Alexander and Frank Cass; Charles and Patsey Keys; Robert and Lu Ann Mathews; Alfred Scroggin; Melvin, Lucy and Margaret Foster, William and Willoughby Wade and Marion Rigdon. A schedule certificate certified that Silas Alexander paid the sum of forty dollars and sixty-eight cents for the "school term of September 27 to December 24, 1841. Another schedule gives the record kept by Michael Finfrock in 1844. The following were scholars: Richard, Mary L. and Elizabeth Turley; James and John Sims; Sarah A., Amelia, Margaret E. and David L. and Abraham B. Bunn; Samuel Morgan, Brimson, Emily and Harriet Dement; Ebenezer and Oliver Capps; Charles, George Benjamin, and Alexander Snyder; Harriet and Caroline Whittaker; Samuel H. and Nancy A. Morgan; John, Christopher and Robert Laughlin; John M. Tomlinson; Chas. Friedrich; Mary Wright; Henrietta Greek; Martha Allen Sarah Scroggin and William Baker.  In 1845, David P. Bunn listed the following roster: Elizabeth and Mary Turley; Mary, Harriet and Caroline Findley; Dewit Whitaker; Samuel, Morgan, Austin and Alexander Dement; John M. and Robert Tomlinson; Herbert, James and Catherine Robinson; Hardin and Nancy A. Morgan; Amelia, Sally, Margaret E., David L., and Mary E. Bunn; Mary Wright, Charles, Mahala and Mary Friedrich; William and Henrietta Krieg;  Lewis, Emily and Nona Mitchell; Mary and Benjamin Snyder; Ebenezer, Oliver, John and Charles Capps; Sally Carlock; James Sims; Margaret Clark and Mary J. Crockett. About 1844, a frame school house was built. The court house was built in 1848. After the removal of the county seat from Mt. Pulaski to Lincoln, the court house building was "donated" to the city to be used for school purposes. Henry Vonderleith, Geo. W. Turley and Jabez Capps were names trustees. The first teacher in the "new" school house is said to have been John Kent. In 1877 a new school organization put schools under supervision of a local Board of Education. Property was purchased and a new grade school building erected 2 blocks east of the public square. The corner stone was laid September 4, 1877, with appropriate addresses by Major M. Wemple and Rev. L. M. Robinson. The school directors were George Huck, Dr. Frank D. Cass and John M. Tomlinson. The school opened in January, 1878. Teachers in the Mt. Pulaski schools in the eighties were: George W. Cominique; T. McGrath; WI. H. Derby; G. W. Monroe; P. T. Nichols; Mrs. M . E. George: Mrs. Kate P. Seyfer; F. E. Dyer; Eva Lord; America Robinson; C. Stark; Mrs. R. F. Beidler; Lou Barkley; T. H. Mattfeldt; Grace Snyder; Cora Turnbull; Anna Tutwiler; Julia Robinson. Will Schone; Lizzie Graham; Louise Hayes; Anna Martin; Inez Mattheus; Louise Meyer; Fred Clark; Hanna Selck and Alice Osburn. Among the teachers in the nineties were: William Miner; S. A. Edwards; T. L. Cook; Mrs. Kate Seyfer; Mrs. Anna Beidler; Mrs. W. Miner; Julia Robinson; Anna Tutwiler; Inez Mathews; Lucy Tutwiler; Flora Davis; Kate Rentschler; Estelle Snyder; Cora Gasaway; Magda Meyers; Nellie Waddell; Margaret J. Toomey; Kate L. Brown; Elizabeth Perkins; Cleo Hickman. Francis Wacaser; Alice Williams; Mattie Wilson; Nettie Rigdon; Nellie Van Orman and Francis Guttery.