GRADE SCHOOL CORNERSTONE
The 1879 school was built on the corner of State and
Adams Streets to replace Manito’s original school built in 1858. In 1918 the School Board of Manito District #111
determined that the 1879 school building was, “poorly heated, poorly ventilated,
poorly repaired and too small” to continue using it as a school. The board obtained options on the “Maloney
Tract” (see adjacent plat) and asked that a special election take place to
decide whether or not to build a new school.
The April 13th 1918 vote passed 153-5. An architect was hired and after some “bid
adjustments” in order to select a contractor the building was completed in 1919. The building was intended to be used as a
grade school and junior high but for at least one and likely two full years it
also served as the high school. Newly
formed high school district #503 had been created and it too had proposed and
passed a building program. Since the
building on State and Adams had been sold to the Masons in 1920, the high
school was without a building until their own building could be completed. The high school board rented 3 rooms from the grade school.
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On the
northwest corner of the new grade school building a ceremonial “cornerstone”
(see arrow) was installed upon the completion of the building. The underside of the stone had been
“hollowed” to provide space for a document box.
In 1981 it was determined that
the cost of repairing the building exceeded the value of the building and
Forest Davis was contracted to demolish the school.
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According to
the March 18, 1981 article the cornerstone of the building was saved during the
demolition. When the cornerstone was
removed the “Time Capsule” that had been placed inside in 1919 was opened. Opening the box revealed copies of the
Manito Express and the Peoria Journal Transcript. The box also included a few photos and a list
of students who attended school in 1919.
The contents had been damaged by moisture during the 62 years they had
been inside the box.
The cornerstone was taken to the site of the Old Manito Jail
where it became the property of the Manito Historical Society in 1981. When the jail was moved to its present location, the cornerstone was
moved with it.
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In 2009 after the passage
of an additional 28 years, the society
members who had originally accepted the cornerstone from the school had passed
away and the “true identity” of the cornerstone had been lost. It was thought
to just be some type of decoration and had even been pressed into service as a
step for the “Old School.”
In August of 2009 during an inspection of the 1858 School it was decided to roll the stone over to inspect the unseen portions for the words reported in the 1981 newspaper to have been engraved there. The date "1919" engraved on one end of the stone raised suspicions the stone was actually the grade school's cornerstone. Rolling the stone to expose the bottom side revealed this:
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The information on the stone is as follows:
SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 111
GEORGE KNOLLHOFF-PRESIDENT
C.H. IDE CLERK
FRED GROB
STUFFING BROS. CONTRACTORS
FREDERICK U. KLEIN – ARCHITECT
The engraving matches what the 1981 newspaper article reported to have been engraved on the cornerstone. The one exception is the reporter mis-read C. H. Ide’s name and printed it
as “Childe-Clerk.”
Plans are being formulated to display the cornerstone
properly as the only known remnant of the town’s first “Modern Brick
Schoolhouse.”
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The space cut into the bottom of the cornerstone to hold the "Time Capsule" is visible in this view. When the capsule was opened in 1981 it was discovered that moisture had damaged the contents.
The date "1919" was displayed on the north side of the building.
This view of the cornerstone was on the front of the building facing Harrison Street.