The History of the Harlem School District

Jump in our time capsule and take a trip down Memory Lane.  Here are some highlights of how the Harlem District began and the changes we've been through over the past century.

Early in 1910, several residents in each of four one room school districts located north of Rockford in Harlem and Guilford Township petitioned to set up an election for the purpose of voting on the issue of consolidation of the four districts.  On April 27, 1910, residents of Free Soil, Union, Bruner and Lovejoy School Districts voted to approve bonds in the amount of $18,000 for a new school district. The vote count was 64 in favor and 16 against. Thus, the Harlem Consolidated School District was begun.

The first school board, consisting of O.H. Conklin. Junius Snow and A. J. Lovejoy, made two immediate decisions. The first was to hire only state normal and university graduates as teachers. The second decision was to build a new school building at the intersection of what is today North Second and Harlem Road, on the site of Hamilton Center. This had been the location of the Free Soil School.

The new school building was first occupied in March 1911, and consisted of four classrooms on the first floor, a raised basement with science and domestic science rooms and an attic which was used as a gymnasium. Also located in the basement was a manual training classroom for the boys. The enrollment was 85 students.

The following years saw much change in the young Harlem School District. Loves Park School was built in 1918. It originally consisted of a two room frame school whose purpose was to house first and second grade students from the southern part of the District.  At that same time, an addition was made to the original Harlem Consolidated School. The roof was raised and another story added. This provided four new classrooms and additional storage area. These additions were needed to house the student population which had grown to more than 170 students.

In 1921 another two room addition was added to Loves Park School to help meet the increased enrollment. By 1921, there were 296 students enrolled in the Harlem Schools.

In 1926-27, a new brick school building was erected on the Loves Park site just south of the existing frame school. It was a two-story structure with four classrooms, an office and a teacher's room.

In 1928, the high school was again remodeled. The interior was completely gutted and the central hall arrangement torn out. By efficiently rearranging the interior and adding rooms to the south end of the building, the capacity of the building was doubled. A gymnasium was also built so that basketball was no longer played in the attic. During the same period, an auditorium, gymnasium and eight additional classrooms were added to Loves Park School.

In 1931 a dwelling was purchased and remodeled into a school. This was located at the site of the old Lovejoy School in the Northern end of the school district. It was used as a grade school, and by 1937, housed 65 students. In 1937 a new two room school was built, and the two buildings together served as a grade school for students in grades one through eight.

In 1938, a shop and a science room were added to the high school, but from that time until after World War II, construction was extremely limited.

The late 1940's and 1950's saw rapid growth in the population of the school district. Thousands of new homes were built, and most of the families moving to the district were of child-rearing age. The school population tripled from 1,333 in 1945-46 to 3,925 in 1955-56. By 1961-62 the enrollment had climbed to 6,308.

In 1945-46, to alleviate the overcrowding situation in the schools, two Army buildings from Camp Grant were given to the district. One was remodeled into a three room school and named Terrace View School. It was located in the north eastern section of the district near Alpine and Route 173. The second building was remodeled and moved to the grounds next to the old Harlem High School.

In 1947 another major addition was made to Loves Park School. Eight elementary classrooms were added to the original Harlem Consolidated School.

In 1951, construction on a new high school was begun on Windsor Road, and the old high school was adapted for use as Hamilton Junior High School. The new Harlem High was first used in the 1952-53 school year. Because it was not filled to capacity, some of its classrooms were utilized for elementary classrooms.

Windsor Elementary School was then built and utilized in the school year 1955, followed by North Park in 1955, Marquette in 1957, Ralston in 1959 and Maple in 1959. All these elementary schools were of the same basic architectural design which saved many thousands of dollars for the district in architectural fees.

In 1957 Marshall Junior High was built in Loves Park to fill the needs of the growing junior high enrollment. In 1962, the same basic design of Marshall was again used to construct Franklin Junior High, which was situated in the Northern section of the district, where rapid growth in population was occurring.

In 1968, Rock Cut School was built at its present location. It replaced the old Rock Cut School, which was situated on the corner of Harlem Road and Forest Hills Road.

Nineteen sixty-nine saw the construction of Hoffman Middle School, which replaced Hamilton. In 1973, Olson Park Elementary was constructed. This was a new idea in school design utilizing a "pod" concept. Olson Park was constructed near the area of the old Terrace View School.

In 1975 Harlem High North Campus was built, and for the first time, high school in the Harlem District was split into two campuses. The 9th and 10th graders attended Harlem South, the high school on Windsor Road, and the Juniors & Seniors attended the new Harlem North Campus, thus holding to the theory of "one high school in the District."

The 1970's saw a decline in enrollment in the district that would later lead to the closing of schools.  In 1984, Hoffman Middle School, North Park Elementary School and Marshall Middle School were closed. Sixth grade classes were put back into the elementary schools, 7-8 grades were put in Franklin and Harlem South Campus, renamed Franklin Junior High and Harlem Junior High, with all the district, 9th cadets attending Harlem Junior High. Harlem North was renamed Harlem Senior High School and housed sophomores, juniors and seniors.

In the fall of 1991 Olson Park School was closed and Franklin Junior High students were moved to the Harlem Junior High School. The Franklin Junior High building was renamed Machesney Elementary School and became the center for an Academic and Fine Arts Academy for students in grades four through six.  Marquette Elementary School became a K-3 center and also housed a magnet program for at risk students.  In September of 1992, the Harlem Consolidated School District had an enrollment of 6,125 students with a forecast of continued growth through increased budding within the northern part of the district.

In 1995-1996 the enrollment of the district showed a marked increase over the past two years. The enrollment was 6,543. The following year (1996-1997) the enrollment was 6,674. In 1996-1997 Olson Park Elementary was expanded to include grades K-5.  In 1997-1998 the Donald C. Parker Early Education Center was opened to house all district kindergarten students and Rising Stars Early Education Program. All elementary schools in the district included grades 1 through 6.  In 1998-1999 the enrollment increased to 7,033. A referendum was approved to build an addition onto the high school and remodel the junior high school. Construction on the $25-million addition to Harlem High School began in 1999-2000. The district enrollment reached 7,208.

In the fall of 2000, the new addition of Harlem High School was dedicated, housing grades 9-12.  Remodeling began at Harlem Middle School and the district enrollment was at 7,357 students.

From a simple beginning, we have seen our school district emerge into a modern, complex school system with eleven schools currently in operation. We have evolved from a rural school district providing a basic education in the 3R's and agriculture, to a district preparing an urban student population for its future in college or industry with such subjects as computer science, calculus, machine industry apprenticeship, and advance placement curriculum in the areas of mathematics, English, social studies, and foreign language.

Throughout the years, from the very beginning, the communities included in the Harlem School District have been an integral force in the development of the district and its quality of education. Time and again voters have approved bond referendums so that new schools could be built when needed and better education provided for the district's children.

From PTAs and PTOs to the Harlem Music Boosters and Harlem Fans Club, parent organizations have been a major force in raising money to supplement the district. Additional educational tools such as office machines, books for the library, audio-visual equipment, playground equipment and many more have been supplied by funds raised by the PTAs and PTOs. Uniforms, scoreboards, athletic equipment, etc. have been donated to the district by the Harlem Fans Club, and the Music Boosters have long helped to provide uniforms, choir robes and the extras for the music departments in the Harlem Schools.

The pride in any community is reflected in the schools, from the parents to the Board of Education to the administrators to the teachers and finally to the students. Looking back over the past, the Harlem District has much of which to he proud.

Looking towards the future, we have an obligation and commitment to see that the tradition of excellence continues, and because we are in the Harlem School District, we will succeed.