Lake Zurich Area's First School Erected In 1840s

The first school in the Lake Zurich area was probably located about one-half mile south of Lake Zurich.

From what records remain and from information passed from generation to generation, it's believed that the building was erected some time in the 1840s, or a short time after Seth Paine settled here. Logs were used for the main structure and the building was furnished with seats and desks made of rough-hewn timber. Books were scarce as was paper and the children did most of their writing on slates.

There were two terms, each about three months in length — one in fall and one in spring. One of the first teachers in the community was Sarah Adams who taught here in 1862. Pay was menial and like other teachers, Adams was given free board and probably stayed with the family of one of her pupils.

Later a school district was formed, composed of the north end of the old Block school district and the south part of the Bennett district. Seth Paine agreed to furnish a schoolroom in his Stable of Humanity (an inn of sorts, located where the Lake Zurich Bank was) and classes were held there until the building was destroyed by fire.

Paine next acquired a room on the second floor of the building known in later years as the Maple Leaf Hotel (which was located on the site of Shell station on Main Street until it was destroyed in 1957). The room was used until the '60s when the Ela Town Hall was built and part of the space allotted for use as a schoolroom.

Emmett  Branding, Albert Prehm, Mrs. William Buhr, Mrs. Harold Hans, Emil Eichman, Mrs. Frank Grasso, Mrs. Edward Young, Roy Loomis, and Mrs. Henry Thies were some of the students that attended the Ela Town Hall building when it had eight grades and an American flag with only 43 stars on it. Their teacher was Mary Courtney.

The building continued to be used as the town’s only school until the early 1900s, and many area residents still remember vividly some of the teachers who taught at the school and attended classes there.

Adapted from The Frontier Enterprise Thursday, Nov. 26, 1958
(Newspaper no longer in circulation)

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