Education is the handmaiden of a democracy. The quality of a community or nation depends largely upon the kind of education all its citizens receive. When our nation was founded, many Americans realized that private and religious schools could not provide the equality, unity and freedom necessary for the new democratic nation. Consequently, state systems of public schools evolved that would be open equally and freely to all.
Many successful people spent their "learning" days in a one-room country schoolhouse. Here in LaSalle County a school was built in each of a township's nine sections so that supposedly every child would have to walk no more than one mile to school. Landowners donated ground for school buildings with the understanding that the property would be used for school purposes only, and schools were often named after the donors The LaSalle County Historical Society's Aitken School was built in 1865 and was originally established as District One in a deed notarized by Horace D. Hickock, brother of "Wild Bill". In 1906, the county had 257 one-teacher rural school districts, the largest number existing in any county in the he United States at that time. However, by 1946, declining enrollments and requirements for indoor plumbing brought about consolidation and the end of the one-room school era.
Since 1991, during the months of April and May each year, over 1200 fourth grade students from La Salle County schools participate in a one-day visit to the LaSalle County Historical Museum complex. During the past school year, more than thirty five schools representing sixty classrooms participated in th the program. Each student receives a handbook with lessons learned in a country one-room school. The teaching is done by volunteers who attended a rural school and/or taught in a rural school.
The program has been well received by students and teachers alike. It is a unique program and the only one of its kind in the state of Illinois. A certificate of special recognition was awarded the program by the Illinois State Historical Society.
To ensure continuation of the Aitken one-room school educational program a permanent fund, the Aitken One Room School Endowment Fund, has been established. This fund was started by family members in memory of Ina E Sundberg Gleim and Eleanor Davis Small, both of whom resided in LaSalle County and taught in rural one-room schools during the 1920's. Like most teachers of that era, Ina Gleim and Eleanor Small boarded with neighboring families, maintained the school building, as well as teaching art, music, reading, writing and arithmetic to students of all ages in grades one through eight. The income from this fund shall be used for the maintenance and upkeep of the Aitken School building and for the support and promotion of school programs.
