“Life at Todd School for Boys” is a historic photograph exhibit on display at the Woodstock Public Library through June 1. The exhibit focuses on life at Todd School during the 1920s and 30s, the time period when Orson Welles attended the Woodstock school. The exhibit includes rare photographs of Welles while he attended Todd.
Early Beginnings - The school that would become Todd School was founded by Reverend Richard Kimball Todd in 1848. Rev. Todd, a graduate of Princeton, came from Vermont to be the first pastor of Presbyterian Church in Woodstock. He was also the county superintendent of schools from 1849 to 1855.
The school underwent a number of name changes during its long history.
1848 - Pastorage Institute
1861 - Woodstock University
1864 - Woodstock Collegiate Institute
1867 - Woodstock Institute
1873 - Todd Seminary for Boys
1930 - Todd School for Boys.
Headmasters - After Reverend Todd, Noble Hill took charge of the school in 1888, and then bought the school from Todd in 1892. Noble Hill was responsible for turning the school into a widely renowned institution, and also made extensive renovations to the campus.
In 1928, he retired as headmaster and turned the school over to his son, Roger. Roger “Skipper” Hill had been on the faculty since 1921. He was headmaster from 1928 to 1953 and did much to enrich student life outside of the classroom.
“The aim of our school is simply to educate the boys in an all-round manner—not simply book knowledge, but systematic development of mind, body, morals, and manners.”— Noble Hill
The Todd School Experience - At the height of its enrollment in the 1920s and 1930s, Todd School was home to 100-110 students. For many years the school provided ten grades (1st-10th) of learning, and in 1935 this was expanded through 12th grade.
Curricula in the 1920s & 1930s included history, Latin, geography, music, English, reading, spelling, physics, mathematics, botany, drama, art, and aviation.
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In addition, students were taught skills such as printmaking, agriculture, and woodworking. The school also had a sound and film studio.
Noted Faculty
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Coach Toney Roskie: Director of Athletics at Todd beginning in 1929, Roskie later went on to be coach at the Woodstock High School in 1953. Roskie was recognized by the Illinois High School Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in 1977, having competed for Lake Forest College in the 1920s, and for his positive influence as a coach in 1979.
Carl Hendrickson: Todd’s music director was responsible for the Todd music program that included choral, band and orchestra groups.
Helen “Nenette” Hendrickson: taught French at Todd for 25 years and went on to become the assistant librarian at the Woodstock Public Library.
A.E. Johnson: Nicknamed “Genius,” Johnson lead the schools vocational education program. Under his guidance students built the school’s stable, stagecoaches, toboggan slide, and also learned to set print type, and run printing presses.
Annetta Collins: An integral part of the campus, Collins was in charge of the Kitchen Services and a house mother to the younger students. Many of the photographs in the Woodstock Public Library’s Todd School archive are from her personal collection.
Notable Students
Orson Welles: The famous actor and director, Welles is the best-known Todd School graduate. He started at Todd School in 1926 and graduated in 1931 at age 15. In the summer of 1934, he returned to produce the Todd Theatre Festival of Shakespearean plays at the Opera House.
Welles’ first known film, Hearts of Age, was filmed in Woodstock. The building seen in the film is Wallingford Hall on the school campus. The bell used in the film is on display in front of the Woodstock Presbyterian Church, and the gravestone is in Calvary Cemetery on Jackson Street.
Welles is best known for directing and starring in Citizen Kane. In another of his movies, The Stranger, set in a New England boys’ boarding school, Welles paid homage to his alma mater by including subtle references to Todd School.
Welles remained friends with Todd headmaster Roger Hill throughout his life, and the two men collaborated on the Everybody’s Shakespeare playscripts.
Robert Wilson: Wilson attended the school in 1922, and was a world-renowned physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project. He was a founder of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in Batavia, Illinois.
Gahan Wilson: Wilson graduated in the Class of 1948. He was an author, cartoonist, and illustrator; he is best known for his macabre work, which appeared in The New Yorker, Playboy, and National Lampoon.
E.D. Hirsch, Jr.: Hirsch graduated in the Class of 1946, he was an educator and author, best known for his writings on cultural literacy.
Joe Granville: Granville graduated in the Class of 1941, and was an investment advisor.
Extracurricular Activities
Sports
Basketball, football, track, swimming, tennis, horseback riding, and sailing were all a part of the Todd sports program. The Todd School Red Raiders competed with other schools and participated in an active intramural program.
The gymnasium included a basketball court and bowling alley. An indoor swimming pool was also part of the campus.
Drama & Music
The school had a 180-seat theater, a prize-winning drama group called The Todd Troupers, and The Todd Toymakers, which produced marionette plays. Todd was known for its strong music program. Todd students performed in choral, band and orchestral concerts, and produced their own albums.
Farming & Animal Husbandry
Todd’s agricultural program included a working farm, dog kennels and livestock.
Travel
“Big Bertha,” a sleeper bus that provided a complete traveling home/school, was used to take students to educational sites throughout North America and to transport students to the Todd winter home in Florida.
Todd Main Campus
When Noble Hill bought the school from Reverend Todd in 1892, the school consisted of Wallingford Hall, Clover Hall, and a barn. The school was located at the corner McHenry & Seminary Avenues.
By 1937, the main campus covered 14 acres and was bounded by McHenry Avenue, Seminary Avenue, Northampton Avenue, and Mansfield Avenue.
By 1950, the campus included a farm, riding stable, gymnasium, glass-enclosed swimming pool, athletic fields, hospital cottage, 11 other buildings, and a 100 acre airport east of the campus (where Marian Central Catholic High School is located today).
Todd also offered a number of off-campus recreational sites:
Seminary Woods: 40 acres of land north of the school’s campus that was used for recreation and instruction; this location is now the Todd Woods subdivision. It was linked to the main campus through a bridal path.
Tosebo Summer Camp: Purchased in 1912 at Portage Lake, Michigan. The name was created from the first two letters of the school name at the time: TOdd SEminary for BOys.
Todd Island: A winter campus on Marathon Key in Florida. Students traveled to Todd Island on one of the Todd sleeper buses for a month-long holiday.
Final Days
Todd School closed its doors in 1954. In 1955, a public auction was held to sell the land, buildings, and school equipment.
Wallingford Hall, one of the original school buildings, was torn down in 1964 to make room for the expansion of the Woodstock Residence nursing home.
Grace Hall was torn down in 2010, for the expansion of the Woodstock Christian Life Services campus.
The most visible former Todd building still standing is the red-bricked Rogers Hall on Seminary Avenue, now an apartment building. Most of the other buildings, except for several houses on Seminary and McHenry Avenues, are gone.
The Woodstock Public Library is located at 414 W. Judd Street in Woodstock. For information about the exhibit or Todd School history please contact Martha Hansen at 815-338-0542, or email marthah@woodstockil.info.
