History Links
The Administrators of our School District and High School, have performed extremely well throughout the years, resulting in a great school system. We have experienced the talents of many fine Board of Education members, Principal/Superintendents, Superintendents and Principals.
In 1805, the first school district was set
up where the Marine Midland Bank now stands. One teacher taught the students who
attended the small one-story wooden building. In 1850, the "old stone building", was built. It was erected on the then Devoe tract, located near what later became Otsego Street.
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A three-story building known as the most imposing school house, costing $23,000, was erected in 1865. In 1872, a regents
charter was obtained and a class of six girls graduated in 1873. |
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West Hill School was completed in 1897 with six rooms. An addition of fourteen rooms and a gymnasium was finished in 1925.
In 1906, the North Street School was completed with six rooms, and ten years later fourteen rooms were added. In1927, an auditorium and a gymnasium were built.
East Frankfort Primary School was located on McGowan Road.
Another primary school was located on Old Forge Road which was later converted to a car wash.
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The School of Annunciation was
finished in 1925. It has remained the same with no additions. The school has
nine classrooms, a library, and an auditorium. The elementary school was closed in the last decade and now is used primarily as a parish center. The Mohawk Central School District temporarily leased the facility to house fifth and sixth grade classes. The Mohawk students were transported to Annuciation School, from the Fall of 1995 through the Spring of 1997, as a result of the devastating fire that occurred at the Mohawk High School in 1995.
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In 1925, The Alumni Association published "Memoirs of the Ilion Union School" which contained a detailed history of the Ilion School District. The memoir also contained an article detailing the history of the Alumni Association.
The original three-story unit of the high school was constructed in 1914. It consisted of the main building, three stories high. In 1926 the three-story north and south wings were opened for the Junior High School, and in 1928 the gymnasium (now girls's gym) was ready for use. Some people remember when the athletic field in back of the school was a deep, swampy ravine, populated only by frogs and mosquitoes, and also when the sand hill, now far out beyond the gate, extended along the side of the building on the south side. The hill was thrown into the ravine, and the result was a fine, level field. In 1951, the gym was enlarged, and a new south wing, two stories high consisting of ten classrooms, was constructed to care for a steadily growing "small fry" elementary school. A new large wing, with a gymnasium, a cafeteria, technology rooms and a complete grade school, known as Weber Avenue Elementary School, was finished in 1957.
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A tragic fire in April 1963 burned many of the classrooms of the units built in 1914 and 1925. They were replaced by a two-story structure completed in January 1966. Today, this facility houses the largest, secondary school student body, in Herkimer County! The Diss Memorial Athletic Complex was built, on the
school grounds, in the 1980's. The new athletic fields enhanced the attractiveness, of the District's already enviable facilities.
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A new elementary school for approximately 600 students on Barringer Road was
completed in January 1967.
In 1977, Remington Elementary School was completed,
replacing the two elementary schools on West Hill and North Street.
On October 21, 1994, Mohawk Central School District's, Gregory B. Jarvis High School was destroyed by fire. The Ilion School District,
having also endured a similar tragedy thirty years earlier, offered the use of the Ilion facilities. Both communities held town meetings to discuss the details of the
arrangement. The solution was for both districts to use the Ilion Junior/Senior High
School campus, with Ilion students attending classes during morning sessions, beginning one hour earlier than normal. The Mohawk students attended classes at the Ilion High School, beginning at 1:30 p.m.. This schedule was utilized for the 1994/95 school year, until the Mohawk students could return to classes in their home district.
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