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Monday, February 22, 2010

1940: JAMES MOSES SCHOOL, VILLA PARK

The Kindergarten class, or as we Hamiltonians called it, "Reception Grade" is illustrated in the photo above. I see little Paul Ashmore, Hamilton High Class of 1952 in there, and is that former Senator Gerald Stockman?

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Anonymous rayfromvillapark said...
Tom, When we moved to Villa Park in 1945, the old Moses school sat diagonally behind our house on the other side of the alley.
The school had been abandoned and was boarded up with some debris strewn about the property. I do remember, however, that we were able to play baseball on the property.
A few years later the school was knocked down and 3 or 4 houses were built on the property.
Does anyone know when the school opened and when it closed? Also, is there any documentation when the building was torn down? I think it was the early 1950s? Rayfromvillapark
RAY:
IF YOU GO TO THE "SEARCH BLOG" LINK IN THE UPPER LEFT OF THIS BLOG YOU WILL FIND THE GENESIS OF THE JAMES MOSES SCHOOL. Type in Moses School and you will find many entries, along with an 1890's architect's rendering of the school.
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2 comments:

  1. rayfromvillaparkMonday, February 22, 2010

    Tom, When we moved to Villa Park in 1945, the old Moses school sat diagonally behind our house on the other side of the alley.
    The school had been abandoned and was boarded up with some debris strewn about the property. I do remember, however, that we were able to play baseball on the property.
    A few years later the school was knocked down and 3 or 4 houses were built on the property.
    Does anyone know when the school opened and when it closed? Also, is there any documentation when the building was torn down? I think it was the early 1950s? Rayfromvillapark

    ReplyDelete
  2. rayfromvillaparkTuesday, February 23, 2010

    Hi Tom, Thanks for the information for finding out more about Moses School. There was an article in the Moses series showing 5 past principals at a luncheon commemorating the closing of the school at the end of the school year in 1940. The man to the left, Russell S. Read, got the big promotion. He was my principal at Junior 2, the new modern facility that succeeded the Moses school for the Villa Park area. I attended from 2nd through 9th grades. Junior 2 was great school with very good teachers and a learning environment.
    The Junior 2 architecture was modern art deco, but I have to say that the old Moses school had character and a very stately appearance. Nice story. rayfromvillapark

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