After 100 years, West Chicago schoolhouse faces uncertain future

WEST CHICAGO – A century ago, the world was a happening place.

Henry Ford introduced the first moving assembly line, and the assassination of an Austrian archduke named Francis Ferdinand catapulted the world into war.

Charlie Chaplin appeared in his first big-screen role, and a little red schoolhouse was built in West Chicago.

Now, 100 years later, the McAuley Schoolhouse still stands at the outskirts of the city, and there doesn’t appear to be any immediate threat to its existence. But there also is no plan for its future, and for those interested in preserving the city’s history, that is cause for concern.

“Presently, there are no plans for the house that District 33 is making, but we’d be very, very excited about another group’s ideas,” said Sue Stibal, a Board of Education member in West Chicago Elementary School District 33, which owns the school.

Landmarks Illinois, an organization dedicated to historic preservation, recently named the McAuley Schoolhouse one of this year’s 10 Most Endangered Historic Places in the state, citing the building’s state of disrepair and lack of direction.

The school also was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

When the schoolhouse, at 1820 W. Roosevelt Road, closed in 1992, it was the last functioning one-room school in Illinois, lending the building an interesting history that Landmarks Illinois would like to see protected.

“We felt the McAuley School had an excellent story,” said Bonnie McDonald, the organization’s president.

With limited state funding that needs to be used to support current students and functioning buildings, District 33 simply doesn’t have the resources to lead any efforts surrounding the school, Stibal said.

Over the years, minimal maintenance has been provided by the district to keep critters out of the building and address any other pressing issues, she said.

The small schoolhouse once represented McAuley School District 27, but due to dwindling enrollment numbers, the district eventually merged with District 33, according to documents provided by the West Chicago City Museum.

Ownership of the building switched hands, and there are certain stipulations in the agreement between the districts that govern the schoolhouse’s future. For instance, the agreement states the school cannot be moved from its current location.

However, moving the schoolhouse to a more suitable spot – away from commercial Roosevelt Road – has been a focal point of past restoration efforts.

In 2003, a campaign was led by former McAuley students and teachers to move the house possibly to a DuPage County forest preserve and use it as a living history museum, documents from the City Museum show.

Ultimately, that dream never came to fruition.

Lance Conkright, president of the West Chicago Historical Society, said the culprit was a lack of funding for the group’s efforts, which he was involved with for a time.

While there are no developments targeting the McAuley Schoolhouse land, the consensus from interested parties is that it would be better for the little red building to be located elsewhere, possibly closer to the heart of town.

As far as the agreement between the districts goes, Stibal said adherence can be flexible if a proposal to move were in the best interest of the school.

“We’d love to see it be relocated to a larger setting where you can appreciate it,” Stibal said.

But for that to happen, it will require interested parties to come forward to lead restoration efforts, something District 33 and Landmarks Illinois hope the school’s spot on the endangered list will help inspire.

“It’s got a lot of possibilities, but someone’s got to get behind it,” Stibal said.