The McAuley School District No. 27 is a schoolhouse in

Winfield Township, DuPage County, Illinois Winfield Township is one of nine townships in DuPage County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2010 census, its population was 46,233 and it contained 15,856 housing units. It is the least populous of the DuPage County Townships. Geography According to t ...

, west from

West Chicago West Chicago is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. The population was 27,086 at the 2010 census. It was formerly named Junction and later Turner, after its founder, John B. Turner, president of the Galena and Chicago Union Railroa ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

. By the time the schoolhouse was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1982, District 27 was the last fully functioning one-room

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations. North America United States In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, wh ...

in Illinois. The final schoolhouse was built in 1913 on a school lot used since the 1850s; it closed in 1991 and the school district annexed into West Chicago Elementary School District 33 in 1992.

History

The land for the school was donated by George McAuley in 1857. A school house was built on this site and served the community until 1913, when it was auctioned off. The current structure was built on the same site in 1913 and featured toilets, ventilation, and electricity, features that were considered progressive at the time. The designs and functionality of the school were strongly based on circular messages issued by the Illinois Office of Public Instruction. A garage built in the same year is also on the school site and has not been altered since its construction. Illinois Gov.

Henry Horner Henry Horner (November 30, 1878 – October 6, 1940) was an American politician. Horner served as the 28th Governor of Illinois, serving from January 1933 until his death in October 1940. Horner was noted as the first Jewish governor of Illinois. ...

recommended in 1935 that all one-room schoolhouses should be demolished. By 1960, almost all of the one-room schoolhouses were destroyed or converted into meeting halls. As the last functioning one-room school in Illinois, the building was added to the

on June 3, 1982. The school was built with a simple wooden frame and followed the rules issued by the Illinois Office of Public Instruction. It faces

Illinois Route 38 Illinois Route 38 is an west–east state highway that runs across northern Illinois. It runs from U.S. Route 52 (US 52) in downtown Dixon to US 12/ US 20/ US 45 (Mannheim Road) in Westchester. It runs concurrently with ...

, also known as Roosevelt Road. The

weatherboard Clapboard (), also called bevel siding, lap siding, and weatherboard, with regional variation in the definition of these terms, is wooden siding of a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping. ''Clapboard'' in modern Americ ...

ed building is with a concrete block foundation. Two square columns with wide entablature flank the entrance. On the inside, six black slate blackboards cover the south wall and a seventh is found on the west wall. Two small windows are found on each side of the entrance. The building underwent renovation in 1963. Carpet was placed on top of the hardwood floors on the top level and

drywall Drywall (also called plasterboard, dry lining, wallboard, sheet rock, gypsum board, buster board, custard board, and gypsum panel) is a panel made of calcium sulfate dihydrate (gypsum), with or without additives, typically extruded between thic ...

was installed in the basement. A second door was also added on the west wall of the basement at this time.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mcauley School District 27 1857 establishments in Illinois School districts established in 1857 1913 establishments in Illinois School buildings completed in 1913 1910s architecture in the United States 1992 disestablishments in Illinois School districts disestablished in 1992 National Register of Historic Places in DuPage County, Illinois Former school districts in Illinois One-room schoolhouses in Illinois School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois School districts in DuPage County, Illinois Schools in DuPage County, Illinois