PEORIA HIGH SCHOOL

 

A Building, a City, and a Century of Dreams

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There are buildings that serve a purpose, and then there are buildings that become part of a city's identity.

For generations of Peorians, the great school standing at 1615 North North Street has been both.

Today, Peoria High School is one of the city's most recognizable landmarks. But when you stand in front of the building and look at its limestone columns, broad entrance and imposing architecture, it is worth remembering that the school was not built merely to educate students.

It was built to express what Peoria believed about its future.

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A School Older Than Its Building

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The story actually begins long before 1916.

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Peoria High School was established in 1856, when Peoria was still a young and rapidly developing city. Its earliest students attended classes in several different locations as the school and the city grew. The school eventually occupied the building at Monroe and Fayette Streets, where generations of Peoria students received their education.

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By the early twentieth century, however, Peoria was booming.

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Industry was expanding. Families were moving into the city. Enrollment was increasing. The old high school could no longer meet the needs of a growing community.

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In 1912, the Peoria Board of Education decided to build a new high school on North Street. A large tract of land at North and Richmond streets was acquired, conveniently located along a new streetcar line serving the expanding parts of the city.

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Four years later, the dream became reality.

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The Building of 1916

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The magnificent new Peoria High School was completed in 1916.

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Historical accounts record the building's dedication in August, while the school officially opened for students on September 11, 1916.

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The architect was Frederic J. Klein, one of Peoria's most accomplished architects.

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Klein was largely self-taught and became one of the important architects of early twentieth-century Peoria. His work included schools, theaters, churches, homes and public buildings throughout the region. His architectural legacy can still be seen in such Peoria landmarks as the Madison Theatre, the Packard Building, Trinity Lutheran Church, park pavilions and the Japanese Bridge at Bradley Park.

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Peoria High was one of his signature works.

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The building's classical design featured massive limestone columns with Doric capitals, a recessed entrance and a monumental facade. The National Register documentation for Klein's work specifically identifies Peoria High as an example of his preference for Classical architectural design.

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But Klein did not build the school alone.

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The construction was carried out by V. Jobst & Sons, one of Peoria's major construction firms.

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The Jobst family had established its construction company in Peoria in 1859, and the company went on to erect many of the city's important buildings. Historical sources specifically list Peoria High School among the firm's major projects.

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There is something especially fitting about that connection.

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The Jobst family did not simply build buildings in Peoria. They helped build the city itself.

And Peoria High would become one of their most enduring contributions.

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A School Unlike Anything Peoria Had Seen

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When the doors opened, Peoria High was an impressive institution.

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Contemporary descriptions praised its spacious classrooms, enormous windows, finely crafted woodwork, plaster ornamentation and cast-iron details. It contained industrial workshops, a large auditorium, two gymnasiums, athletic facilities and a substantial power plant.

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This was 1916.

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The United States was entering the final years of World War I. Automobiles were becoming common. Airplanes were still a novelty. Radio was in its infancy. There were no computers, no television, no internet and no smartphones.

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Yet Peoria's leaders were building a school designed to prepare young people for a changing world.

The school was not intended to be temporary.

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It was built to last.

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And it did.

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The Test of Time

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More than a century later, the original building is still standing.​  That alone is remarkable.​  But surviving is not the same as remaining useful.

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Peoria High has managed to do both.

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The building has been expanded and modernized over the decades. District records identify additions in 1930, 1961 and 2012, while other improvements have updated the school's mechanical systems, science facilities, athletic spaces and other infrastructure.

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The result is something unusual:  A school where the architecture of 1916 still lives alongside the technology and educational needs of the twenty-first century.

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The walls are old.

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The mission is not.

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The People Who Walked Through the Doors

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Of course, the greatest history of Peoria High is not found in its limestone.

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It is found in its people.

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For more than a century, young men and women have entered those doors carrying books, lunches, athletic equipment and dreams.  Some became famous.​  Many became successful without ever appearing in a newspaper.​  And countless others simply became good citizens—the kind of people every community depends upon.

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Peoria High's alumni include people whose influence reached far beyond Central Illinois.

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Edward F. Dunne, a member of the Class of 1871, went on to become mayor of Chicago and later governor of Illinois. He remains the only person elected both mayor of Chicago and governor of Illinois.

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Philip José Farmer, Class of 1936, became a celebrated author whose work helped shape modern science fiction.

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Betty Friedan, Class of 1938, became one of the most influential writers and voices in the American women's movement.

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Robert H. Michel, Class of 1940, went on to become a prominent member and leader of the United States House of Representatives.

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John Shalikashvili, Class of 1954, rose to the highest levels of the United States military and became Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

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And then there was a young man from Peoria whose name would become known throughout America:

Richard Pryor.​  He walked the halls of Peoria High before becoming one of the most influential comedians and performers in American history.

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These names tell only part of the story.

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There were also generations of Peoria High graduates who became doctors, teachers, attorneys, engineers, entrepreneurs, military officers, police officers, firefighters, artists, musicians, coaches and community leaders.

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They built businesses.​  They raised families.​  They served their neighbors.​  They served Illinois.​  They served the United States.

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A Tradition of Achievement

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Peoria High's tradition of excellence extends beyond the classroom.

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The school has a remarkable athletic history as well.

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Peoria High won the first Illinois state basketball championship in 1908, and the school also won the first Illinois state track and field championship in 1893. Later generations added additional state championships in basketball, football and speech.

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Football created another enduring Peoria tradition.

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The famous Peoria-Manuel Thanksgiving rivalry began in the early twentieth century, becoming one of the city's great annual traditions and eventually lasting until 1973.

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The building on North Street became the backdrop for all of it.

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Victories.

Defeats.

Friendships.

Rivalries.

Graduations.

Homecomings.

And memories.

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Why Is It Still Here?

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Perhaps the most important question is not How did the building survive?​  It is:  Why did Peoria keep it?

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The answer may be that the people of Peoria understood something that is easy to forget.​  Historic buildings are not valuable simply because they are old.​  They are valuable because of what happened inside them.​ Peoria High is a physical record of the ambitions of earlier generations.​  The people who approved the building in 1912 could have built something ordinary.​  Instead, they built something magnificent.​  They believed their children deserved it.​  The architect, Frederic Klein, gave the school its form.​  V. Jobst & Sons gave it substance.​  Teachers gave it purpose.​  And generations of students gave it life.​  That is why the building has endured.

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110 Years Later

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In 2026, Peoria High's North Street building reaches its 110th year.  Think about that.

When the first students entered those doors in 1916, Woodrow Wilson was president. World War I was raging in Europe. The automobile was still transforming American life. The world was a very different place.  Yet the same basic promise remains.  A young person enters the building not knowing exactly what the future holds.  

A teacher sees possibility.  A student discovers a talent.  A friend is made.  A lesson is learned.  A challenge is overcome.  And eventually, a graduate walks back out those doors and begins writing the next chapter.  That has happened thousands of times.  It will happen again and again.  That may be the greatest accomplishment of Peoria High School.  Not the limestone.  Not the columns.  Not the architecture.  Not even the famous names.  It is the generations of people who came through those doors and went out into the world determined to make a difference.  Some changed Peoria.  Some changed Illinois.  Some changed America.  Some changed the world.  And many simply changed the life of another person.  All of them are part of the story.  The old building on North Street has been standing for 110 years.  It has endured because it was built well.  It has remained relevant because it has been cared for.  But most of all, it has endured because Peoria has continued to believe in what happens inside it. The building is a monument.  The students are the legacy.  And the story is still being written.

 

Peoria High School.

The Pride of the City since 1856.