Tri-County Conference (Illinois)

The Tri-County Conference is a high school conference in north central Illinois. The conference participates in athletics and activities in the Illinois High School Association. The conference incorporates 8 small public and 2 small private high schools, with enrollments between 82-428 students in LaSalle, Livingston, Marshall, Putnam, and Woodford counties.

History

The first year of competition for the Tri-County was 1927 with ten charter schools: Hennepin, Henry, Hopkins Township in Granville, Lacon, Lostant, Magnolia, Senachwine Township in Putnam, McNabb Swaney, Tonica, and Varna. During the lifetime of the conference, most of these ten very small rural schools have remained in the league in one form or another. Some have left and returned and many of them have consolidated to become new entities. Regardless, the conference has changed many times over the years.

The first two schools to consolidate were Henry and Senachwine Township High Schools. The new high school became known as Henry-Senachwine Consolidated High School beginning in the fall of 1947 and would be located in Putnam, Illinois. The following year, Magnolia High School merged into Swaney High School near the town of McNabb, ceasing the existence of the Magnolia Pirates. In 1949, Varna High School consolidated with Lacon High School to create Mid-County High School, located in Varna. Sparland, a team that was part of the Tri-County but left for the Little 6 Conference in 1958, consolidated with Mid-County High School to form Midland High School in 1995.

Rutland joined the Tri-County in the early 1930's, however, they would leave for the Mid State Conference during a consolidation with the Minonk-Dana School District in 1956. This new high school would be known as Minonk-Dana-Rutland. Toluca and Wenona High Schools joined the Tri-County in the early 1930's, however, in 1992 they consolidated with Minonk-Dana-Rutland to create Fieldcrest High School located in Minonk, Illinois. Fieldcrest remained in the Mid State Conference.

Some small schools would cease operations during the course of time. Original member, Lostant High School in Lostant, Illinois, remained a member of the conference until 1958 when it would join the Little 6 Conference. They would return to the Tri-County in 1961, however, in 1993 the school closed due to financial constraints. Students from Lostant were given options to attend one of four nearby schools; Fieldcrest, Putnam County, Streator, or LaSalle-Peru.

During the 1950s and 60s, there was a push in the state to consolidate rural districts. Several schools in the Tri-County followed the initiative and either merged or consolidated. In 1956, the high schools of Roanoke and Benson, long-time rivals, consolidated to form Roanoke-Benson High School and continue to be a member of the conference. Washburn High School, located in Washburn, Illinois was a school that had existed in the league since 1929, however, it would consolidate with the high school from Lowpoint to create Lowpoint-Washburn High School in 1952. In 1966, two charter schools, Hennepin and Hopkins Township, would consolidate with previously consolidated Magnolia-Swaney High School to form Putnam County High School.

During the tenure of the Tri-County, schools like Eureka, Bureau Valley, and Peoria Christian joined and left. Another example of a school that would join the league and leave is DePue High School. DePue would leave the Indian Valley Conference in 1994, join the Tri-County, only to leave in 2020 to join the Little Ten Conference. Bradford High School, who joined the league in 1994, was deactivated in 2001 based on low enrollment. Students from Bradford were given the choice of attending Bureau Valley, Henry-Senachwine, or Stark County High Schools.

For nearly a century, the Tri-County has remained in operation with at least six high schools. Currently the league consists of six full members and four partial members, the full members are; Putnam County, Henry-Senachwine, Roanoke-Benson, Streator Woodland, Varna Midland, and Lowpoint-Washburn. Beginning in 2023-24 school year, Peru St. Bede, Dwight and Ottawa Marquette will compete in the Tri-County for all sports except football, which will compete in the newly formed Chicago Prairie Football League. Seneca, also a partial member of the Tri-County, plays in the Vermilion Valley (South) Conference for football.

Member schools

Previous Members

''Sources:IHSA Conferences, and IHSA Member Schools Directory''

Membership timeline

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ImageSize = width:1100 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1927 till:2023
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
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Colors = id:barcolor
id:line value:pink
id:bg value:white
id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports
id:FullxF value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football
id:AssocF value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only
id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.78,0.391,0.654) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all (consider identifying in legend or a footnote)
id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference
id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two

PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s

bar:1 color:Full from:1927 till:1947 text:Henry (1927–1947)
bar:1 color:White from:1947 till:end text:(1947) Consolidated with Senachwine to form Henry-Senachwine HS

bar:2 color:Full from:1927 till:1947 text:Putnam Senachwine Township (1927-1947)
bar:2 color:White from:1947 till:end text:(1947) Consolidated with Henry to form Henry-Senachwine HS

bar:3 color:Full from:1947 till:end text:Henry-Senachwine (1947-Present)

bar:4 color:Full from:1927 till:1993 text:Lostant (1927–1993)
bar:4 color:White from:1993 till:end text:(1993) School closed

bar:5 color:Full from:1927 till:1939 text:Hennepin (1927–1939)
bar:5 color:White from:1939 till:1948 text:(1939) B-L-P Conf
bar:5 color:White from:1948 till:1966 text:(1948) Little 6 Conference
bar:5 color:White from:1966 till:end text:(1966) Consolidated with Magnolia-Swaney and Hopkins to form Putnam County HS

bar:6 color:Full from:1927 till:1948 text:Magnolia (1927-1948)
bar:6 color:White from:1948 till:end text:(1948) Consolidated with Swaney to form Magnolia-Swaney HS

bar:7 color:Full from:1927 till:1948 text:McNabb Swaney (1927-1948)
bar:7 color:White from:1948 till:end text:(1948) Consolidated with Magnolia to form Magnolia-Swaney HS

bar:8 color:Full from:1948 till:1966 text:Magnolia-Swaney (1948–1966)
bar:8 color:white from:1966 till:end text:(1966) Consolidated with Hopkins Township and Hennepin to form Putnam County HS

bar:9 color:Full from:1927 till:1966 text:Hopkins Township (1927–1966)
bar:9 color:White from:1966 till:end text:(1966) Consolidated with Magnolia-Swaney and Hennepin to form Putnam County HS

bar:10 color:Full from:1966 till:end text:Putnam County (1966-Present)

bar:11 color:Full from:1927 till:1990 text:Tonica (1927-1990)
bar:11 color:White from:1990 till:end text:(1990) School Closed, students attend LaSalle-Peru HS

bar:12 color:Full from:1927 till:1949 text:Lacon (1927-1949)
bar:12 color:white from:1949 till:end text:(1949) Consolidated with Varna HS to form Mid-County HS

bar:13 color:Full from:1927 till:1949 text:Varna (1927-1949)
bar:13 color:white from:1949 till:end text:(1949) Consolidated with Lacon HS to form Mid-County HS

bar:14 color:Full from:1949 till:1995 text:Mid-County (1949-1995)
bar:14 color:White from:1995 till:end text:(1995) Consolidated with Sparland to form Midland HS

bar:15 color:Full from:1939 till:1958 text:Sparland (1939-1958)
bar:15 color:White from:1958 till:1995 text:(1958-1995) Little 6 Conference
bar:15 color:White from:1995 till:end text:(1995) Consolidated with Mid-County to form Midland HS

bar:16 color:Full from:1995 till:end text:Midland (1995-Present)

bar:17 color:Full from:1929 till:1952 text:Washburn (1929-1952)
bar:17 color:White from:1952 till:end text:(1952) Consolidated with Lowpoint to form Lowpoint-Washburn HS

bar:18 color:Full from:1952 till:end text:Lowpoint-Washburn (1952-Present)

bar:19 color:Full from:1930 till:1956 text:Roanoke (1930-1956)
bar:19 color:White from:1956 till:end text:Consolidated with Benson to form Roanoke-Benson HS

bar:20 color:Full from:1939 till:1956 text:Benson (1939-1956)
bar:20 color:White from:1956 till:end text:Consolidated with Roanoke to form Roanoke-Benson HS

bar:21 color:Full from:1956 till:end text:Roanoke-Benson (1956-Present)

bar:22 color:Full from:1932 till:1956 text:Rutland (1932-1956)
bar:22 color:White from:1956 till:end text:Consolidated with Minonk-Dana to form Minonk-Dana-Rutland HS

bar:23 color:Full from:1932 till:1992 text:Toluca (1932-1992)
bar:23 color:White from:1992 till:end text:(1992) Consolidated with Wenona and Minonk-Dana-Rutland to form Fieldcrest HS

bar:24 color:Full from:1932 till:1992 text:Wenona (1932-1992)
bar:24 color:White from:1992 till:end text:(1992) Consolidated with Wenona and Minonk-Dana-Rutland to form Fieldcrest HS

bar:25 color:Full from:1994 till:2001 text:Bradford(1994-2001)
bar:25 color:White from:2004 till:end text:School Closed

bar:26 color:Full from:1994 till:2020 text:DePue (1994-2020)

bar:27 color:Full from:1994 till:end text:Marquette (1994-Present)

bar:28 color:Full from:1994 till:2010 text:St. Bede (1994-2010)
bar:28 color:White from:2010 till:2023 text:(2010) NCIC
bar:28 color:Full from:2023 till:end text:(2023-Present)

bar:29 color:Full from:1995 till:2006 text:Eureka(1995-2006)

bar:30 color:Full from:1997 till:2006 text:Bureau Valley (1997-2006)

bar:31 color:Full from:1997 till:2021 text:Peoria Christian (1997-2021)

bar:32 color:Full from:2006 till:end text:Woodland (2006-Present)

bar:33 color:Full from:2018 till:end text:Seneca (2018-Present)

bar:34 color:Full from:2021 till:end text:Dwight (2021-Present)

ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:3 start:1927
TextData =

fontsize:L

textcolor:black

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text:^"Tri-County all-time membership history"
#> If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following six options (use only the colors that are used in the graphic.) Leave a blank line after the end of the timeline, then add a line with the selected values from the list, separated by a space. <#

''Sources:Illinois High School Glory Days,

Boys Basketball Tournament Championships

Tri-County Conference Tournament Championships

References

2015 Championship Game story from Ottawa Times
{{Illinois High School Association

Illinois high school sports conferences