ROWVA High School

ROWVA High School
Type Public secondary
Principal Mr. Joseph W. Peters
Students 229
Grades 9–12
Location 346 East ROVA Drive
Oneida, Illinois, USA
Campus Rural, fringe
Colors Gold, White
Mascot Tigers
Website ROWVA High School

ROWVA High School, ROWVA Senior High School, or RHS, is a public four-year high school located at 346 East ROVA Drive in Oneida, Illinois, a village in Knox County, Illinois, in the Midwestern United States. RHS is part of ROWVA Community Unit School District 208, which serves the communities of Rio, Oneida, Wataga, Victoria, and Altona, and also includes ROWVA Junior High School, and Central Elementary School.[1] The campus is 10 miles northeast of Galesburg, Illinois and serves a mixed village and rural residential community. The school is the only high school in the village of Oneida, and lies within the Galesburg micropolitan statistical area.[2]

Academics

ROWVA High School teaches courses in the following academic departments:[3]

Athletics

ROWVA High School competes in the Lincoln Trail Conference and is a member school in the Illinois High School Association. Its mascot is the Tiger. The Oneida ROVA class of 1976 basketball team took 2nd Place in the State Final losing to Mt. Pulaski in a close game with a final score of 59-58 http://www.register-mail.com/stories/031906/SPO_B99LFVS0.GID.shtml. The team was coached by Bob Meredith and the team finished the regular season with a record of 28-3. Steve Holmes & Dave Johnson were selected to the All-Tournament team at the Illinois High School State Tournament in 1976. The school has no state championships on record in team athletics or activi.

History

The history of ROWVA high school is the history of its preceding component schools:

Rio High School

The community of Rio, Illinois provided a school system for its children from approximately the late 19th century until 1948. It was in that year the communities of Rio, Oneida, Victoria, and Altona consolidated their schools to form the original R.O.V.A. School District. Rio at first kept its grade school for its children, however the grade school in Rio is no longer used as a school. The building and its baseball diamond are still present.The school offered many things to the children of the school. For insistence lead poisoning.[4]

Oneida High School

The first school in Oneida, Illinois was organized in 1855. A high school was established in 1870, however a storm destroyed the building just seven years later. The bell from the building was saved and was reconstructed. The memorial is pictured at the bottom of the page. Nine pupils graduated from its first high school class in 1891. During the 1890s, high school curriculums were offered, but often not many people studied a full four, or three, years of its education to earn a diploma. This explains the 21-year gap between the organization of a high school and the first graduating class. From 1899 to 1908, the school became a three-year one. A gym was acquired in 1926 from the Congregational Church building until a new gym was built in 1937. Oneida supported their own high school until 1948 when the high school was deactivated. The reason for this was a consolidation between the high schools in the towns of Rio, Oneida, Victoria, and Altona. The result was the formation of the original R.O.V.A. school district (Wataga's addition later made it "ROWVA"). The town of Oneida landed the high school in their town.[5]

Victoria High School

The history of the village of Victoria, Illinois begins in 1835. According to legend, George Reynolds stole the town and moved it to its current location where his cabin sat. This locale was important for the fact the stagecoach line between Burlington, Iowa and Chicago, Illinois went through this area. The Swedes who eventually settled in Bishop Hill, Illinois first stayed in Victoria and is believed if they had converted Eric Janson to Methodism, Victoria may have been home to the Swedish Colony.[6]

Victoria was once a booming city with a prosperous future due to its successful mining industry that lay south of town in an area now called Little John Conservation Club. Victoria's historical significance is that it was a major Swedish Settlement in its day. It is home to the first Swedish Methodist Church in the world. A railroad also ran to Victoria from Wataga to transfer the freshly mined coal. This is significant because it was the Shortest Railroad in America at about 9 miles long. Once the train arrived in Victoria, it ran backwards back to Wataga due to the abrupt end of Americas Shortest Railroad! The railroad is no longer in use, and Victoria is no longer home to a great mining society.[7]

In 1895, Victoria High School was established, which lasted until 1948 when the towns of Rio, Oneida, Victoria, and Altona formed R.O.V.A. High School located in Oneida. The grade schools in each town remained active at the time. The Victoria school building is no longer used as a high school, nor is it used as the elementary school that it once was. It was sold to the village of Victoria by ROWVA school district for only $1. The Village of Victoria sold it to a man who now runs a business out of the building.[7]

The reason for the sale and closing of the Victoria school was a consolidation of the elementary schools of Rio, Oneida, Wataga, Victoria, and Altona. The consolidation formed ROWVA West Elementary (3rd and 4th grades in Wataga) ROWVA Central Elementary (1st and 2nd grades in Oneida) And ROWVA East Elementary (5th and 6th grades in Altona)." [6]

Altona and Walnut Grove High Schools

The history of education in Altona, Illinois dates back to the mid-19th century. The first school building in the town of Altona was built in 1863. The school housed grades 1 - 8 and supported a three-year high school course. The first graduatiing class of Altona High School was the class of 1874. The class consisted of three graduates, Emmerson Shade, Nellie Colburn, and Fannie Hillerby.The three-year Altona High School continued through 1915, with the largest classes to graduate consisting of eleven students.[8]

A four-year high school course of study began in 1916. Being newly established, there were no graduates that particular year. A new brick school building was built in 1916 to accommodate the new agenda. It was also voted at that time to become a school for the entire township in which Altona was located. The name of the new high school district would become the Walnut Grove Township High School District. A new grade school building for the district was erected in 1917. The grade school was named after its biggest donor, Mary Riner Kufus. Walnut Grove Township High School would flourish for several years to come. Classes of 25 students in 1931 and 23 students in 1937 were the school's biggest in enrollment. In 1931 the school added a gymnasium to the grounds. The district established a bus system in 1946.[8]

Talks began in 1945 regarding the potential consolidation of several school districts in Knox County. Ultimately the suggestion was made to consolidate the high schools of Rio, Oneida, Victoria, and Altona. After a couple of years of planning the school boards of the four school districts put the suggestion on a ballot for the voters to decide. The vote was held in the spring of 1948. All districts agreed to establish one combined school district to be effective beginning with the 1948-49 school year. The Altona Walnut Grove High School class of 1948 would be the last to graduate from the school.[8]

Altona Walnut Grove Township High School continues to have an active alumni association. Annual banquets have been held to honor the former students and the memory of the high school for over 100 years. Though dwindling in numbers, the banquet is still be held on a yearly basis. The Altona High School building is still active today as part of the ROWVA school system and is now utilized as the ROWVA East Grade School.[8]

Wataga High School

The villages of Wataga, Illinois opened its high school in 1888. However, the high school closed in the 1940s (1949), shortly after the R.O.V.A. District was formed. The residents of Wataga at the time chose to send their students to the Galesburg school system. However, Wataga maintained control of its grade school. In the mid-1980s the residents of Wataga chose to detach from the Galesburg school system. The children of Wataga were accepted into the R.O.V.A. school district in 1987, effectively putting the "W" in R.O.W.V.A. The grade school in Wataga is now home to "ROWVA West Grade School". Wataga has been since closed after the 2009-2010 school year.[9]

Timeline

References

  1. ↑ http://www.rowva.k12.il.us/
  2. ↑ http://www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/09statab/app2.pdf
  3. ↑ http://www.rowva.k12.il.us/Academics.htm
  4. ↑ http://www.illinoishsglorydays.com/id70.html Illinois High School Glory Days, Rio High School, Accessed February 1, 2010
  5. ↑ http://www.illinoishsglorydays.com/id76.html Illinois High School Glory Days, Oneida High School, Accessed February 1, 2010
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 http://www.illinoishsglorydays.com/id42.html Illinois High School Glory Days, Victoria High School, Accessed February 1, 2010
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 http://www.illinoishsglorydays.com/id42.html Matt Smith, Quote on the History of Victoria, Accessed February 1, 2010
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 http://www.illinoishsglorydays.com/id29.html Document located at Ransom Library, Illinois High School Glory Days, Altona High School, Accessed February 1, 2010
  9. ↑ http://www.illinoishsglorydays.com/id77.html Illinois High School Glory Days, Wataga High School, Accessed February 1, 2010

External links