USA > Illinois > Jefferson County > History of Jefferson County, Illinois, 1810-1962 > Part 8
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The curriculum of the old lit. Vernon High School stressed the academic subjects and gave prominence to Latin, German and the classics. Commencements were elaborate with each member of the class being required to give an onation. The latter custom was modified in 1900 when only the valedictorian, the salutatonian, and four others gave orations, Beginning in 1889 students of the school published a monthly magazine called The Rostra which contained stories, essays, poems, and school news. Sports were not stressed, but there was some competition with other schools in track and baseball and during the later years in football. In 1900 lit. Vernon joined the Southern Illinois Oratorical and Athletic Association. The other schools in the association were DuQuoin, Benton, Mcleansbono, Fairfield and Flora. In 1900 contests were held in Mt. Vernon with Mt. Vernon taking first in intellectual events but fourth in athletics.
In lilay, 1905, the Mt. Vernon City High School came to an end, being replaced by the newly-organized lit. Vernon Township High School. In the period 1884 to 1905 the old school had graduated 188 students. Among its graduates were numerous businessmen, teachers, college professors, ministers, lawyers, and other professional men and women.
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In September, 1905, the lilt. Vernon Township High School replaced the old city high school. The territory included not only the city of lift. Vernon but the entire Mt. Vernon Township. It has a separate board of education and is not a part of the lit. Vernon city school system.
In 1903 the people of the township had voted to establish a township high school and elected a board of education, but because of some technicality the proceedings were declared illegal, and a new start was made in 1904. On the board elected in 1904 were Frank Snyder, president, J. H. Mitchell, J. O. Harlow, F. J. Cochran, and W. W. Price.
This board purchased a site at Seventh Street and Casey Avenue, The first building, now known as Building B, was begun in September, 1904, completed in July, 1905, and dedicated on August 15, 1905. Its cost was about $40, 300.
The school opened September 1, 1905, with James M. Dickson as principal and a staff of six teachers. The first teachers were Renzo Muckelroy, Miss Lillian Barton, Miss Ida Bond, Silas Echols, Miss Lily Gubelman and Miss Mary Maxwell. The enrollment for the first year was 160 - 70 boys and 90 girls.
In the beginning the curriculum included academic and science courses, the only exceptions being stenography, typewriting, manual training and drawing. The Class of 1906, the first class to graduate from the new school, had only thirteen members. Graduates of this class were Alice Blackburn, George Collins, Donis Damon, Carl Hayse, Ellen Hinckley, Georgia Howard, Ray Livingston, Edna Price, Rex Robon, Edith Taylor, Alabama Turnley, Ben Ward, and Cecil Willis.
Upon the retirement of Mr. Dickson in 1915, Silas Echols became the second principal. He had been a teacher in the school since its beginning in 1905. In 1915 the enrollment had grown to 260, and there were 36 graduates in the Class of 1916.
Enrollment declined slightly in 1917 and 1918 during World War One, in which 110 graduates on former students served in the armed forces.
Increased enrollment after the war led to the addition of a second building to the school plant. The first building, which some
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people had said was much too large and would never be filled, had be- come inadequate. The second building Located at the southeast corner of Sixth Street and Casey Avenue was completed in 1921 and is now known as Building C. The football field known as Vernois Field was built and dedicated in 1933.
By 1935 the enrollment had grown to 503, and three new buildings - an auditorium, a gymnasium, and an additional classroom building -- were begun. These were built as a W. P. A. project and were put into use in 1936 and 1937.
When the United States entered World War Two, the high school did much to further the war effort. It participated in many patriotic activities and sold thousands of dollars worth of bonds and stamps. School shops were expanded and equipped with machines and equipment from the old NYA buildings, and adult courses were organized to train machinists, welders, and blue print readers, who were much in demand. To supplement the food supply the school operated a summer cannery at the NYA camp. The output of this was more than 75, 000 cans per year.
The honor noll of former students who served in World War Two contains more than 500 names. Of these, 65 were killed on died in ser- vice,
In 1947 Min. Echols retired. He had served ten years as a teacher in the schools and thirty-two years as its principal. During these forty-two years he had seen the school grow in enrollment from 160 to 1300. The faculty had increased from six to forty-eight. The school plant had grown from one building to five with a replacement value of $900,000. Bonds to the amount of $250, 000 had been voted and plans made for a new vocational building, but because of the war this was not begun until 1949.
The curriculum had been broadened to include many vocational and cultural courses, such as industrial arts, agriculture, homemaking, business education, art and music. In vocational training, four three- hour vocational courses in drafting, machine shop, electricity, and auto shop had been added.
Robert L. McConnell succeeded in. Echols as principal. Before coming to lilt. Vernon he had served as principal at Anna-Jonesboro and Harrisburg.
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During his administration a new three-hour course in building trades was added, and the students began the project of building a modern home each year on each two years. Additional funds were voted for the new vocational building which brought the total up to $550, 000. The building was erected in 1949 and 1950. New territory was taken into the district and its area eventually grew from thirty-six square miles to 272 square miles, so that it became necessary to use several buses to transport the students.
With the resignation of lin. McConnell in June, 1950, Arthur Milward became the fourth principal on superintendent, as the chief administrator is now called. He had formerly served nine years as teacher and dean of boys in the school and came back to Mt. Vernon from Chebanse, Illinois, where he had been superintendent.
Three on-the-job training programs were added to the cure. riculum - office occupations, distributive education, and diversified occupations. In office occupations students acquire skills and pro- cedures in morning classes at school and spend the afternoon working in uptown offices under the supervision of their employer and the high school coordinator. In the other courses the same procedure is followed except that the students work in stones on in factories and shops.
The new vocational building was put into use in September, 1950, and with the added facilities Mt. Vernon Township High School became one of the outstanding high schools in the state for vocational training
On October 21-22, 1955, the school celebrated its fiftieth anniversary with a series of class neunions and other events which ended with a banquet attended by more than 450 graduates and friends of the school. At this banquet the Echols was especially honored and contributions made to a scholarship fund to be called the Silas Echols Scholarship Fund.
On October 29, 1955, the voters of the district authorized the establishment of a junior college. The school name now became likt Vernon Township High School and Community College.
College work began in 1956 with 116 enrolled in day classes and 79 in night classes. Some college classes meet in the high school buildings and some in a remodeled apartment building across the street
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from the high school campus. In 1961 an additional dwelling was ac- quired for a temporary college office.
The college has maintained the standards and criteria of the Illinois State Department of Education and of the University of Illi- nois and receives full recognition from each. Before the college opened about 22 per cent of the local high school graduates went on to college; now about 50 per cent enroll.
Dr. Milward, who had attained his doctor's degree in 1960, resigned in june, 1961, having served as superintendent for eleven years. He was succeeded by Eltis Henson, who had previously been superintendent of Harrisburg Township High School. Under the admin- istration of lin. Henson the school is continuing its growth and pro- gress.
In September, 1961, a school of practical nursing for adults was added to the Vocational Department of the college. It offers a one-year course and enables adults to meet the requirements for li- censes as practical nurses. It is housed in a remodeled. residence at Sixth Street and Casey Avenue.
In 1962 the people of the district voted bonds to the amount of $993, 000 to build a new classroom building, to remodel Building, B, to provide a new heating plant, and to modernize other buildings. The new building is to be completed in 1963.
The school is well represented in organizations and activities. Representing the views of the students is the Student Council, organ- ized in 1919. It is now made up of a boy and a girl elected by each class and a boy and a girl from the senior class elected from the school at lange. This council is the guiding organization of all student organizations.
The Hi-Tri League, a character training organization for girls originated in Mt. Vernon Township High School in 1925. It was organized by liss Cornelia Pierce, the first dean of girls. It is a chartered organization and has become state-wide.
It is one of the two schools in the state to win your state championships in basketball. Championships were won in 1920, 1949, 1950 and 1954. In the earlier days of the school when debating was in vogue, the debating teams von many victories including three southern
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Illinois championships. In Later years school musicians have won many honors. These include State Music Sweepstakes Championships in 1949, 1957, 1956, 1957, 1961, and 1962.
The Vernois, school yearbook, and the Vernois News, the student newspaper, have maintained high standards. The Vernois News won HISPA All-American ratings for seven years, 1947-1954, and again in 1956. It was also (SPA liedalist in 1948 and 1949.
During the fifty-seven years of its history, mt. Vernon Township High School and Community College's enrollment has grown from 160 to 1635 in the high school and from 195 in the college to 340. The high school graduates number 3, 073, and the number of teachers and administrations has increased from six to eighty. The campus has grown in size from one-half block to more than two blocks, and the number of buildings from one to seven. Instead of four years' work it now offers six - four in high school and two in college.
The school's service to the public has also been greatly increased, Its original curriculum was chiefly college preparatory. low in addition to college preparation, it offers vocational training for those who do not plan to go to college and a comprehensive program in homemaking for girls who will become housewives. Ant, music, Liter- ature, social activities, clubs, and sports promote the appreciation of the fine arts and the enjoyment of Leisure time.
To further increase its service the school has added a pro- gram of adult education. From a small beginning during World War Two the program has grown to include as many as twenty-one courses, enrolling 600 or more in a single year. For the adults there are high school and collere courses in typing, dressmaking, carpentry, welding, auto mechanics, agriculture, English, mathematics, and a host of other sub- jects.
The school has long been recognized for its high standards of scholarship and with its expanded program of service to all people of the community has become one of the most progressive schools in the state. Every year numerous visitors come, even some from foreign countries, to study its program and methods. In the past the school has been an important factor in the moral, intellectual, cultural and economic development of lit. Vernon, and will continue so in the future.
-- Prepared by LLOYD R. DeVITT
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THE DOX METHODIST CHURCH
The Methodist Episcopal Church South of Dix was organized
in 1863. Among the first members were Mr. and lins. Elijah limberly and S. ". Carpenter and family. At the time the early history of Jefferson County was written, there were about ninety members. Rev- erend Claybourne Whitson was the minister and J. M. MiConnich was Sunday School Superintendent,
The church, a brick structure, was built about 1865 and was about 34 by 50 feet in size. It was described as an "excellent brick structure." The rock for the foundation was hauled from the Prairie farm east of Dix, now known as the Russel Stroup farm, by Cap and Lige Hawkins, then about fifteen years old. The bricks were made in a brick kiln on the north side of the farm now owned by Mack Hayes. They were made by Uncle Sammy Carpenter.
A Methodist Episcopal Church was built in Rome about 1067. It was a frame building; in fact, it is still referred to as "the old frame church. " This building was approximately 36 by 40 feet and cost the lange sum of $3000. In the eighties this church was listed as having about fifty members, with Rev. Bowyer as minister and William Ayers as Sunday School Superintendent, Many years later this church closed and most of the members transferred to the brick church. The frame church was remodeled and for many years was used by the Dix Grade School and the Dix High School.
The brick church, now known as the Dix Methodist Church, has been remodeled. A basement and a modern oil furnace and classroom are housed in it. A lobby and two more classrooms were added in 1962. The basement, started in 1958, was made possible by a bequest from lins. Oscar Fields, who before her marriage was Lena Hawkins. A bequest by lins. Walter Riley, whose husband was formerly the mayor of Dix, also helped. Several other donations were received, and much of the work was done by the members.
The church has been redecorated, an organ installed, and under the pastonate of Rev. Rosemary Hannis is making great progress. Jim Tom Jannen is the present church school superintendent. An active church school, li. y. F., prayen meeting and Woman's Society of Christian Service, as well as a Vacation Bible School under the direction of lins. Grace Douthit, are maintained.
-- By Rev. Rosemary Harris
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LOUIS LINCOLN! JAMERSON
(excerpts from a paper prepared by Denver licDonald and ne- produced in quantity by the int. Vernon Chamber of Commerce)
In November, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln spoke his memorable words at Gettysburg, while the outcome of the titanic struggle of the Civil jan was very much in doubt. The following month a son was born to Jesse and Fannie Saundet Emmerson. The boy! was named Louis Lincoln Emmerson, so named because his grandfather Allan Enmerson's two terms in the State Legislature with Abraham Lin- coln had caused the family to have undying respect for the man who now so courageously tried to nemold the country into one great united group of states.
The name Emmerson is an old and honorable one and has been iraced back to England prior to the year 1400. In 1638 pioneers of the American branch of the family came to Ipswich, Massachusetts, with the Puritans. From thence, ancestors of Louis L. Emmerson went to Vin- ginia, laten to Kentucky, to Indiana; and in 1817 Louis' grandfather Allan moved to Illinois.
L. L. Emmerson's mother was a native of Switzerland. His father was a man of sterling integrity, a man who frequently served his community as a public official in offices of high trust. In the stirring days just before the Civil Ian he was elected the sheriff of Edwards County, Illinois, and won distinction by the efficiency of his administration at a time when being sheriff was very hazardous.
The first decade of young Louis' life was a time of stirring events in the nation. Sherman marched to the sea and captured Savannah. Lincoln was re-elected. Lee surrendered at Appomattox. The Atlantic Cable was laid. Tive Klu Klux Klan was organized and controlled the South through Lean and violence. Nebraska was admitted to the Union. Maska was purchased. President johnson was impeached. The first neilroad to the Pacific was completed. Boss Tweed Lost control of' ilew York, and the Panic of 1873 was just beginning to become a grim reality. During this troubled period of our national life, very little can be Learned about Louis, who had now grown to the age of ten. It is as- suned, however, that he was growing up along the traditional lines; and that the influences of the home, the church and the school were
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beginning to shape up and set the pattern for the sterling character he was to possess .
The second decade of his life was also one in which our nation was expanding in spite of internal strife. Custer made his last stand. The telephone was invented. Colorado was admitted to the linion. President Hayes withdrew the troops from the South. Edison invented the incandescent electric Light. President Garfield was assassinated.
During this period Louis had advanced from grade school to high school. He was very industrious and had few idle moments. How- even, he apparently lived a normal Illinois small-town boyhood with perhaps a bit more than the normal amount of work in it. He was a student of music and canned for himself a place in the Albion High School band. It was while playing in the band that his romance started with liliss inne Matthews, who seven years later was to become his wife. To the well-known prestige of the Emmerson family was now added that of the well and favorably known ilatthews family.
Morris Emmerson, older brother of Lou, had left the family home at Albion and had decided to seek his future in litt. Vernon some fifty miles away. He soon established himself in the newspaper busi- ness and was very successful. So thoroughly was he sold on the future of It. Vennon that he wrote his brother Lou, asking, that he consider bringing his bride and making his home hene. They came. It was 1007.
Lou was twenty-one and full of ambition. Capitalizing on his experience as a stone clerk at Albion, he now decided to go into busi- ness for himself. He opened a department store and built a successful business based on the principle of honest dealing with the people he served. His popularity increased. His friendship and advice were soon sought by, men of all classes. Soon his name was being mentioned in political circles. He ran for alderman in 1893 and was elected. It is interesting to note (as might be expected of such a man) that he nan for office on a public improvement program. In 1893 he was also the people's choice for president of the school board. Largely through his dynamic leadership a building program was started which greatly enlarged the educational facilities of the litt. Vernon schools.
Success seemed to be his. It was his belief that a man should have more than one business connection. Thus it was no surprise
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to his friends when he founded the Boston Stone in 1989. This store soon became the outstanding store in lit. Vernon. Its phenomenal suc- cess can be traced to the policies of pain and honest dealing which lin. Emmerson believed in so thoroughly.
Hit the time he was establishing himself as a business man he was also becoming a political figure. He went from alderman to precinct committeeman. Later he was elected Republican County Chairman of Jef- ferson County; and he progressed from this to more important political positions, serving on the Congressional Committee and finally as a member of the State Central Committee. He was a member of the State Board of Equalization during part of the term 1904-1908. During the administration of Governor Deneen he was appointed a member of the Southern Illinois Prison Commission. His thoroughness, his organizing ability, his sincerity and his ability to make and hold friendships, as evidenced in these minon political jobs, made him a marked man for future and greaten political service.
in. Emmerson's business life was as extensive as his other activities. He was engaged in the mercantile business until 1901, when he helped organize the Third National Bank and accepted the position of cashier. Here he made friends by the score, ilis countous treatment of customers and the efficient mannen in which he did his work was soon brought to the attention of his superiors. Many promotions were to be his, both politically and in business. He advanced to the presi- dency of the bank, which position he filled in a most capable manner. fin. Emmerson was very active in civic and fraternal organi- zations. He was a Rotarian and a staunch supporter of the lit. Vernon club. He belonged to the Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Red men, Loyal Under of House, Elles, Modern Woodmen, and the liasonic Order.
His liasonic history is one of great activity, covering many years of faithful service. He beans the unusual distinction of having been grand High Priest of the Grand Royal Anch Chapter and Grand Com- mander of the Grand Commandery of Illinois, in addition to the title of Grand Master. In 1891 he was made a faster hason in mt. Vernon Lodge, and became it's lasten in 1913. He was exalted in I. .!. Hubbard Chapter, R.A. M., in lit. Vernon, and served as its High Priest for seven jeans up 20 1905, when he was elected to office in the Grand Chapter line, be- coming Grand High Priest in October, 1913. He received the Council
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degrees in Janville Council, afterward taking part in the organization of the int. Vernon Council in 1912. He was made a Knight Templar in Cunene Commandery, Centralio, later taking a prominent part in the organization of Patton Commandeny at litt. Vernon and serving as its Commander during its first three years. In 1912 he was elected Grand Wander of the Grand Commandery, being regularly advanced until 1919, when he was elected Grand Commander. He received the degrees of the Scottish Rite in Oriental Consistory of Chicago and later became a member of the Cast Saint Louis Consistory. In 1911 he was crowned a thirty-third degree hason at Saratoga, New York.
He also had a unique political history in that he attended his first Republican National Convention in 1396, as a spectator, and 'rom that time attended every G. O. P. convention until the time of his death -- and was a delegate to all but one.
lin. Emmerson was without question a man of great influence, in the State of Illinois and elsewhere; but the townspeople of lit. Vernon remember him as the friendly merchant, banken, counselor and advisor .... a man who worked ceaselessly for a better lit. Vernon. The fact that the Can Shops located here and that we have the finest park in Southern Illinois is due perhaps more to his tireless exports than those of any other man.
Friends prevailed upon him to seek nomination and election as Secretary of State of Illinois. In doing so he promised to prove by his administration that business efficiency can be applied in public service. He kept that promise. He was elected Secretary of State in 1916 with a plurality of 61, 000 votes, was re-elected in 1920 with a plurality of nearly 400, 000, and in 1924 he was given the greatest plurality ever received yet by any candidate in Illinois.
Under his direction the office of Secretary of State became one of the most important in the state government, and its efficiency is attested by all who had dealings with that department. Instead of spending 9.49 per cent of the amount collected con administration, as was done prion to 1917, il. Emmerson's administration spent but 3. 25 per cent. No similar department in the United States even equalled that showing. He accomplished this economy quietly, as was his custom, by applying simple yet sound business principles such as he had fol- lowed in private business.
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Under Governor Lowden's administration In. Emmerson was one of the strongest supporters of the efforts for good government. He was one of those who advised with Governor Lowden in the working out of the hand roads system and in advocating the first $60, 000, 000 bond issue to be paid off with automobile fees. Always an advocate of good roads, he saw in this plan an opportunity to pull Illinois out of the nud and helped very materially in his official capacity to make the plan a success. Governor Lowden showed his estimate of in. immerson's ability and worth when he made him managen of the Lowden campaign for the Republican nomination for president in 1920.
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