The Revised Early History of Warren Township High School and Its Sports Teams

By James D Lodesky

This book contains the early history of Warren Township High School from its beginnings as Gurnee’s two-year high school. The two-year high school evolved first into a three-year township high school and finally into a four-year township high school in 1917. The book also includes an early history of Warren’s sports teams, experiences of its students, and descriptions of life at Warren. There are also stories about no-table students, teachers, coaches, and prominent citizens in the area.

If you are wondering why I named the book The Revised Early History of Warren Township High School, I’ll explain. Originally, I only intended to write a history of Warren’s football teams. While researching football, I occasionally ran across articles about the school’s early history. I saved what I found and filed it away. Then the Warren Township Historical Society asked me to write an account of Warren football for their newsletter. While writing about the football team I decided to add all the other information about Warren’s history that I found earlier, calling it the “Early History of Warren Township High School.” Six months after writing the article, I noticed a couple of mistakes that needed correction and decided to do a more in-depth study of the high school’s history. I ended up with enough Warren history that I was able to write this book and correct my mistakes as well.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 10, 2019
• ISBN: 9781796044751

James D Lodesky

James D. Lodesky was born in Waukegan. He grew up in Gurnee, Illinois, but currently lives in Lisle, Illinois. James is the author of the books Polish Pioneers in Illinois 1818–1850 and The Revised Early History of Warren Township High School and Its Sports Teams. James also has a website about animal stories published in newspapers from the 1700s, 1800s, and early 1900s titled uncledicksanimaltales.com. If you would like to buy any of these books, just google [e-mail].

Book preview

Copyright © 2019 by James D. Lodesky.

ISBN:      Softcover         978-1-7960-4476-8

                eBook               978-1-7960-4475-1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 07/10/2019

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

799066

T his book contains the early history of Warren Township High School from its beginnings as Gurnee’s two-year high school. The two-year high school evolved first into a three-year township high school and finally into a four-Year Township high school in 1917. The book also includes an early history of Warren’s sports teams, experiences of its students and descriptions of life at Warren. There are also stories about notable students, teacher’s, coaches and prominent area citizens.

If you are wondering why I named the book The Revised Early History of Warren Township High School, I’ll explain. Originally I only intended to write a history of Warren’s football teams. While researching football, I occasionally ran across articles about the school’s early history. I saved what I found and filed it away. Then the Warren Township Historical Society asked me to write an account of Warren football for their newsletter. While writing about the football team I decided to add all the other information about early Warren history that I found earlier, calling it the Early History of Warren Township High School. Six months after writing the article I noticed a couple of mistakes that needed correction and decided to do a more in-depth study of the high school’s history. I ended up with enough Warren history that I was able to write this book and correct my mistakes as well.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The following people were most helpful.

Suzie Shelley Anthony

Martha DeTogne

Bill Eiserman

Don Haugh

Dick Hyde

John Kozuch, for giving me the idea to research Warren football

Joe Mullen

Mike Ray

Barbara Richardson

Russ Schneider

Bob Hahn and Mike Marro at Spring Grove Heating and Air Conditioning

Al Winters

Historical Societies

Ron Wendt and Tom Mellen from the Warren Township Historical Society

Shawn Ford and Larry Ames from the Newport Township Historical Society

Charlotte Renehan from the Grayslake Historical Society

The Waukegan Historical Society

The Lake County, (IL.) Genealogical Society

The Ela Historical Society

Public Libraries

Antioch Public Library

Arlington Heights Memorial Library

Barrington Area Library

Bensenville Community Public Library

Cook Memorial Library (Libertyville)

Crystal Lake Public Library

Ela Area Public Library (Lake Zurich)

Franklin Park Public Library

Lake Forest Public Library

Lisle Public Library

McHenry Public Library

Round Lake Area Public Library

Warren-Newport Public Library

Wauconda Area Public Library

Waukegan Public Library

Woodstock Public Library

Zion-Benton Public Library

CONTENTS

Early History

Early Warren High School Superintendents

Warren Faculty

Blue Devils Team Name

Vocational Agriculture

Home Economics

Miscellaneous Events and Happenings

Schedule of Events At the High School in 1920

Calendar of Events At the High School in April, May and June 1921

Warren Cheer from 1921

Warren Angelus 1922

Alumni Banquet in 1923

Night School

School Newspaper

High School Remodeled

A Band At Warren

High Schools of Northwest Conference

The W Club

Gymnasium Show

The High School At Gurnee Is Looted

Cost of Educating Students At Various High Schools in Lake County in 1932

Some Early Experiences of Warren Students

Warren’s Most Famous Graduate

Crucible of Democracy

Sports

Success and Failure of Warren Sports

Warren’s Enrollment Compared To Other Schools in

The Conference

Conferences

Formation of the Northwest Conference

Creation of the Northeast Conference

The North Suburban Conference

Warren’s First Sports Rivalry

Warren Fans

Warren Basketball

Girls’ Sports

Warren Track

Warren Baseball

Warren Wrestling

Intramural Sports

High School Football Rules

Warren Football

Ending

Twelve Football Championship Seasons from 1923 To 1999

Seventeen Second Place Seasons from 1923 To 1999

Top Ten Offense By Points/Game 1923-1999

Top Ten Defense 1923-1999

Warren’s Football Win/Loss Record, 1923-1999

Endnotes

EARLY HISTORY

L ake County had a total of three four-year high schools by the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Waukegan High School was the oldest high school in the county having been in existence since 1870. ¹ The other two schools were located in the far southern part of the county. Highland Park-Deerfield High School was established in 1890 ² and Barrington High School in 1903. ³ Libertyville High School soon joined them. It converted from a three-year to a four-year high school in 1906. ⁴

Students from Warren Township commuted to Waukegan High School. ⁵ Students from the rest of the county also went to the nearest school but it was much more difficult and expensive for those from the northwestern part of Lake County. They often had to move to town and rent an apartment. For them it was more like going off to college nowadays. Some Lake County students went to high school in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Josie Bidwell is probably the first Warren Township student to graduate from Waukegan High School, graduating in 1876. ⁶ There was no two-year high school in Gurnee at the time so she must have gone the full four years to Waukegan. Josie would have started her freshman year in 1872. Students from Warren Township attended Waukegan High School until spring 1917, a period of 46 years. Warren Township High School came into existence in fall 1917.

The Bidwell farm was situated on the east side of the present Rt. 21, north of the tollway. The Bidwells were my family’s closet neighbors, their farms were right next to each other. Josie’s father, Thomas Bidwell, was the administrator of my great-great- grandfather’s will.

Edward S. Lawson, author of the book A History of Warren Township wrote quite a bit about the Bidwells. He claimed they were probably the most highly respected family in the area and took a big interest in community affairs and education. In 1877, Mrs. Bidwell, along with Tryphena Griffin, were the first women elected as township school directors. Tryphena Griffin was also a teacher. Mrs. Bidwell’s family settled in Half Day in 1842. Thomas Bidwell emigrated from Connecticut to Warren Township in 1851. Over the years Thomas served as justice of the peace, township supervisor and overseer of the poor. He also raised prize Red Devon cattle on his farm.

The Bidwells were the parents of two daughters, Josie and Ardella. The Bidwell family was Episcopalian by faith. The whole family was involved in charities big-time and took in a number of orphans over the years. The two Bidwell daughters never married but continued their charity work long after their parents were gone.

Lawson also wrote a great deal about education in the early days of Warren Township. According to him, the first school in the township was built in 1838 near Millburn. The first pioneers had settled in Warren Township only three years earlier. The first teacher was James Alvord. Lawson’s mother also taught there for a time.

Lawson wrote about the establishment of Gurnee’s first school in 1840. The school building was the largest log cabin in town. At first it was known as the O’Plaine School but became Gurnee Grade School in 1873. Both his parents attended the school. It was first located on Old Grand Avenue where the fire station now stands but it did not stay there for long. A tavern was situated across the street at the site of the present Gurnee Community Church. The owner’s name is long forgotten and the tavern had a bad reputation. The drunks hanging around the tavern were setting a bad example so it was decided to move the school in 1845. The whole school building was picked up and moved to the site on Kilbourne Road where Gurnee Grade School was located for so many years. It took 20 yoke of oxen to move the building there. They moved it just in time. Barney Hicks bought the tavern in 1852 and turned it into an even worse place.

Gurnee’s school was soon used for other functions. Gurnee’s Christian Church used it on Sundays. Town meetings were held there. Plays were performed. A debating club and a singing school used the building as well.

Lawson attended Gurnee Grade School. He started school there in 1874 when he was about six years old. Officially Gurnee Grade School was District No. 1 and its students all lived within a mile radius of the school. Lawson counted 37 houses within the district. Students all sat in double-desks. There were two semesters, summer and winter. Most students over ten years old had to stay home to work on their family’s farm during the summer semester which lasted from April 15th until September 15th. The winter semester started November 15th and ended March 15th.

Lawson recorded a good sized list of teachers who taught at Gurnee Grade School, either before or during his time at the school. Some were local residents. Others came from outside the district. Some only taught the winter semester while others just the summer semester. Some only lasted one semester.

Lawson wrote that the students and their parents were so upset with one woman’s style of teaching that they told her to just leave in the middle of the semester. A very popular teacher died from a broken leg. Another teacher was a dour old maid who chewed on a licorice root all day. Lawson thought that most of the teachers tried very hard to educate their students.

I found a story about one of Gurnee Grade School’s principals in 1914. He suddenly vanished and was never heard from again. Principal Charles Stevens was only twenty-two years old but had managed to talk his way into the principal’s job despite the fact that he was only certified to teach first grade. No one bothered to check his credentials. His mother said he cashed his $90 check and took off. T. A. Simpson, Superintendent of Lake County Schools placed the blame squarely on Gurnee’s officials for the mess. Simpson thought Stevens was just a smart dresser who could talk his way into anything. ⁷

Lawson wrote that Gurnee Grade School had some real strict disciplinarians as well. A teacher named Mr. Moody ejected Barney Hicks from the schoolhouse with a powerful right cross. Barney always seems to have been in some kind of trouble and probably deserved it. I mentioned earlier that Barney bought the tavern at the site of the current Gurnee Community Church, across from the first school.

Lawson mentioned that Barnabas (Barney) Hicks was an early Gurnee settler and character. Originally from New York, Barney also spent time in Ohio and Wisconsin and lived in California during the gold rush where he practiced the blacksmith trade. Barney settled in Gurnee in 1852 and bought the tavern located on the site of the present Gurnee Community Church. Named the California Exchange, the tavern had a bad reputation. Later Barney built a new tavern that was one of the most imposing buildings in town. It was painted a bright white on the front and sides of the building but he never bothered to paint the back. He bought the farm surrounding the tavern as well and some thought he was hiding stolen horses in a giant hay stack behind his barn. He was also known to turn his basement into a stable at times. The November 2, 1940 Waukegan News Sun wrote that Barney Hicks barn was a stop on the Underground Railroad.

Barney had had a tough life. His first wife and their three children all died from small-pox. Barney had to bury the bodies himself because the undertaker was afraid to get near the bodies. His second marriage was to Rachel Mix. They were the parents of three boys and a girl. Later in life Barney broke his leg. The leg never healed and had to be amputated. Barney used a wooden leg from then on.

A Gurnee teacher named Steven Kennedy used to make his disruptive students go out and cut their own switch. If it was too small he’d send them back to fetch a bigger one. Kennedy got himself in trouble with Gurnee’s school board for his harsh discipline. None other than Barney Hicks spoke up for him.

Gurnee Grade School was still using the paddle when I was there in the mid-1960s. Not all teachers used it but one of the most notorious paddlers was a woman. She was a good-sized woman who could really pack a wallop. Another woman teacher had an identical paddle but hers didn’t get as much use. Every paddle had holes drilled in it to cut down on wind resistance. I remember one student, last name omitted, who got a paddling at the beginning of the school year. I can’t remember if it was in 7th grade or 8th grade. The teacher really let him have it and the crack of that paddle must have been heard by the whole school. The incident put the fear of God in me and I never uttered a peep in that class the rest of the year.

Some of my classmates at school used to talk about a paddling that occurred in 6th grade. I attended Catholic school at the time so the account is second hand. A student named Donald, last name omitted again, was cutting up in class. Donald, along with a few other boys had to stay after school that day. Donald was no stranger to the paddle but this time refused to come up to the head of the class for a paddling. The teacher, Mrs. S., grabbed her paddle and came after him. Donald started running around the classroom laughing with the teacher in hot pursuit. Next Donald tried to jump over a desk but tripped over it, getting his leg stuck. The teacher caught up with him and Donald got his paddling. Everyone there said it was the funniest thing they had ever seen.

Another friend claimed he was one of six boys taken out to the hallway for a paddling by the same teacher. He was the last one in line and quaking in his boots by the time it was his turn. For some unexplained reason the teacher stopped after paddling the first five boys in line and let him leave. Maybe her arm got tired. Still another friend got an almost daily paddling for not doing his homework. Other students asked him how he could stand getting paddled so much to which he replied, You get used to it. I was surprised to learn that paddling also took place at Warren. One guy told me he was paddled during his senior year.

We have to take a step backwards. Steven Kennedy, whom I just mentioned for his harsh discipline, has to be the same Steven Kennedy that tried to blow up a number of businesses in Waukegan in 1914. Edward Lawson claimed that after Kennedy left Gurnee Grade School, he moved to Waukegan and became an attorney.

In the early 1900s, an attorney from Waukegan named Steven Kennedy, along with many other citizens of the county, invested in a mine out west. Known as the Easter Sunday Mine Investment, it looked like a very promising investment. Some people sold their houses to raise enough money to buy into the venture. Other shareholders went out west to prospect the mine themselves. Steven Kennedy was into the enterprise bigtime and put every penny he had into it. He also took out mortgages on all of his real estate. Next he formed a cabal with some of the other shareholders and tried to take control of the whole undertaking and cut everyone else out of it. A man named Stripe formed his own faction to oppose them. The Waukegan Daily Sun newspaper kept tabs on all the developments and wrote that there were some real intense moments when the two groups met.

To the shock and surprise of everyone, the mine was a bust and everyone lost all their money. After selling their home to invest in the mine, one old retired couple was reduced to selling vegetables and taking in ironing. Others came back to the county flat broke and had to start all over again. ⁸

Steven Kennedy was broke as well and took the loss hard. Besides that he owed a tidy sum on all his new mortgages. For some reason he blamed the banks and creditors that loaned him money and started firing off menacing letters to them all. Everyone thought Steven was just blowing off some steam and disregarded the letters. All Steven’s property was soon in foreclosure. He went to see his creditors and asked for help. They all got together and offered to lower the amount he owed by one third but he turned it down. ⁹

Steven was starting to lose it becoming paranoid and thinking all his creditors were out to get him. He finally cracked up and decided to take revenge on them all. His first act was to leave a briefcase filled with 25 sticks of dynamite at the Big Ben Tailor Shop in Waukegan. He left the briefcase next to the trouser ironing table, hoping that the iron might accidently fall on it. No one bothered to look in the briefcase. It kept getting in the way and got kicked around the shop for weeks.

After leaving Big Ben’s, he went to the Kennedy Coal Company and asked if he could leave a briefcase there for a couple of days. It also contained 25 sticks of dynamite. No one thought anything about it there either. Alexander Sandy Kennedy (no relation to Steven), was the owner of the Kennedy Coal Company and married to my grandfather’s sister, Mary. When Steven didn’t come back for his briefcase the secretary started using it for a foot stool. She almost had a fit when she found out three weeks later that it was full of dynamite. ¹⁰

Neither of the briefcases blew up. Three weeks later Steven left another briefcase containing 25 sticks of dynamite at the office of Attorney W. C. Upton. Upton was handling the foreclosures for all of Steven’s creditors. Next Steven tried to organize a meeting with all his creditors at the Waukegan Security Savings Bank. In the meantime Attorney Upton actually looked in the briefcase and found the dynamite. The police were called and Steven was arrested. It was later found out that Steven planned to bring twelve and one half pounds of dynamite to the bank meeting with his creditors and threaten to blow everyone to Kingdom Come if they didn’t forgive all his debt. ¹¹ Steven was soon taken to the insane asylum in Elgin. ¹² A week after the dynamite was discovered at the Kennedy Coal Company someone stopped by and for a joke asked to leave his briefcase there. Sandy told him to leave it someplace else. ¹³

I found a little information about the condition of some Lake County grade schools in 1869. Mr. Carr, the superintendent of Lake County schools paid a visit to a couple Newport Township schools that year. The first school was located where the town of Wadsworth is now located. Thirty-five students attended the school. Basil Jaroshinski was the teacher. Jaroshinski is pronounced as Yaroshinski. Basil was friends with my great-great grandfather. They were both Polish exiles. Superintendent Carr, thought that Basil was one of the finest teachers in the county. The superintendent didn’t have much good to say about the schoolhouse though. He wrote that The schoolhouse was far from inviting, either in its internal arrangements or external appearance. ¹⁴ He thought that Newport Township could do better. Basil had been elected secretary of the Lake County Teachers Association in 1866.

Superintendent Carr visited a different Newport Township grade school the same year. It only had twenty students and had a bad tardiness problem. It was also the teachers first year as a school teacher. She was doing her best but the school was completely disorganized. There were maps on the walls and a beat-up old globe. The superintendent asked what happened to the globe and was told the boys were using it for a football. The desks were in bad shape too. ¹⁵

Superintendent Carr visited some of the other county schools in 1869 and had some interesting things to say about them. Carr thought the worst school building in the county was located in Cuba Township. He wrote, I thought I had seen poor school houses before, but never was it my fortune to see children assembled together in so miserable a hovel as here. The walls of this primeval establishment are made of logs, between which there is ample chance for ventilation. ¹⁶

Barrington’s school was considered the best school in the county in 1869. It had an enrollment of sixty-three students. Superintendent Carr complimented Barrington’s school board and citizens for all their effort.¹⁷

O’Plain School (Gurnee) had one of the largest enrollments in the county with fifty students in 1869. Its school building was one of the best in the county. The English grammar class was probably the top one in the county. Whitmore School was also located in Warren Township. Its enrollment was usually about half the size of O’Plain School but was an excellent school. The teacher was inexperienced but was doing a great job. Algebra and Geometry were taught and the school was equipped with a globe and unabridged dictionary. ¹⁸

Superintendent Carr visited three schools in Libertyville Township that year. The first school had an enrollment of forty-six students. The year started out well but some kind of sickness infected most of their students half way through the year and the school was almost shutdown. The other two schools had much smaller enrollments. All three schools had good buildings. ¹⁹

Superintendent Carr also visited three schools in Avon Township in 1869. The Hainesville School was his first stop. The school had an enrollment of twenty-five. Superintendent Carr was not too impressed with the school. The building was not very good and the school needed a blackboard. The Lake School was his next stop. The enrollment was thirty-one students but they were rarely all there at the same time. There was also a bad tardiness problem. The building was so bad that Carr thought it should be used as a stable instead of a school. There were no globes or maps either. Center School was next on the list. The school’s enrollment and building was small. The building was passable however and the students alert and ready to learn. The older students were studying mental arithmetic. They had a few maps and the school was in the process of acquiring a globe and dictionary. ²⁰

The Waukegan Gazette had an interesting comment about the outhouse at Waukegan’s South School. The condition of this building is, indeed, shameful, and measures immediate and determined should be taken to put a stop to practices which are at once beastly and low-minded, and which if allowed to continue, will breed a pestilence in the First Ward. ²¹

Many of Newport’s students went to a two-room school from 1925 to 1964. Most of their students were sent to Gurnee Grade School when I was in 8th grade. They had some good stories about their former school. My favorite story happened after a disruptive student was told to sit under the teacher’s desk. Once there he started eating the teacher’s lunch to the amusement of the other students.

Most of the early high schools in Lake County started out as part of a grade school and were either one or two-year high schools. ²² Classes at Gurnee Grade School were conducted in a log cabin until a brick building was built in 1868. A new two-room school building was constructed in 1892. One room was used for the grade school and the other for the high school. The year 1892 is the earliest mention of Gurnee’s two-year high school. A Mr. Presto was principal and teacher that year. The other teacher was Miss Pearl Smith. There were thirty-two students in school that year. ²³ In 1894, Mr. and Mrs. Lester taught at the school. ²⁴

Gurnee’s two-year high school was not accredited and its students could not attend college. According to Wikipedia, to get accredited a school had to be evaluated by an external body to determine if applicable standards are met. ²⁵ Applicable standards meant advanced courses. Getting accredited wasn’t easy. Warren’s first graduating class in 1918 claims that the school was accredited its first year of existence. ²⁶ The 1922 Warren Angelus yearbook wrote that the school was first accredited for two years in 1921. ²⁷ Warren students could attend any college in the state and the majority of the colleges in the country by 1924. ²⁸

Gurnee’s two-year high school had a great reputation. Their students attended Waukegan High for their junior and senior years. The July 14, 1906 Waukegan Daily Sun referred to Gurnee as the Athens of Lake County. ²⁹ The article claimed that its boy and girl students were the top scholars at Waukegan High School ever since they began going there. They were known as hard workers and far more advanced in their studies then Waukegan’s own students. Not all Warren Township pupils went to the Gurnee School but many had great reputations as students. ³⁰

I know the names of a few of the Waukegan High School graduates from Warren Township. Norman Brown, a member of Warren High School’s first school board, was a Waukegan graduate. ³¹ Norman graduated from Waukegan High School about 1896. Rowley McClure, a 1907 graduate