Ilion High School - Class of 1965

Utica Daily Press - May 28, 1965

Ilion Elementary School Okayed By 1,126-178

Article 10b

Ilion Elementary School Okayed By 1,126-178

ILION - Voters of the Ilion Central School District yesterday gave decisive approval of a proposition of the Board of Education to construct a new $1,250,000 elementary school, balloting 1,126 to 178 in favor of the project.

About 100 persons in the Municipal Building auditorium broke into cheers as the final vote was tallied shortly after 8 p.m. from the voting machines. Voting had started at 10 a.m.

The new school will be on the 20-acre former DeJohn property on Barringer Rd., purchased for $40,000 after being approved by school district voters last December. Two previous proposals on the site purchase had been turned down.

Schools Supt. George E. Anderson said afterward: "The next step will be to contact the architect to finish the final plans and get on with the building, to relieve overcrowded conditions of the boys and girls in the school district."

Anderson said the school board will probably be ready to award contracts early in September.

Anderson added, "The Board of Education is to be highly commended for the time, effort, and work put into this program.They certainly deserve the gratitude of the school district."

Dr. James S. Anderson, board president, issued a statement saying, "Education in Ilion has taken a giant step forward today."

"Our thanks go again to the Citizens Committee for its splendid work, and to all dedicated citizens who have given their time and energies to the success of our enterprise," he added.

Atty. Thomas A. Morris was chairman of the meeting, announcing the final vote.

Rain during some of the 10 hours of voting is believed to have kept attendance at the polls down to the 1,304 persons who balloted, as compared with 2,531 who turned out last December to approve the site purchase.

Preliminary plans for the new school, prepared by Myron Jordan, Richfield Springs architect, were recently approved by the State Department of Education in Albany. The final plans will be readied by Jordan sometime this summer.

Jordan is also architect for the re-construction at the high school on Weber Ave. where many rooms were lost in the disastrous 1963 high school fire that resulted in the need for the new elementary school.