Mount Prospect Historical Society

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Sarah Plain and Tall Book Discussion

Come join us for our second annual children’s book discussion in Mt. Prospect’s newly restored original one-room schoolhouse on Saturday, February 10 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.  Children in grades 3-5 will discuss the Newberry Medal awarded Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan while snacking on a prairie lunch (provided).

“We are excited to continue our children’s book discussion series in the Central School,” says Deborah Rittle, local teacher and member of the Society’s Living History program.  The one room school is located on the grounds of the Mount Prospect Historical Society. (103 S. Maple)  “Sarah is the embodiment of the pioneer spirit that made communities like ours thrive.”

Participants will read the book beforehand and come ready to chat a little about the story.  (The book has a Lexile level of 660L.) 

For more information or to register, please contact the Mount Prospect Historical Society at 847-392-9006.

Fee Information: $15.00 Includes prairie lunch. Deadline to register is January 31, 2018.

You can register with PayPal below.


Participant(s) Name:
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Mount Prospect Historical Society Launches Unique Living History Experience

Schoolmarm Julie Vowinkel goes over the school rules.

Students from area schools are now able to experience a school day straight out of the past.

Thanks to the restoration of the Village’s original one-room 1896 schoolhouse, Central School, the Mount Prospect Historical Society is pleased to announce a new phase in its programming.

Attentive students in one-room schoolhouse.

“After months of planning, we are thrilled to be launching this program,” said Deb Rittle, Schoolhouse Project Coordinator. “We envision this program helping future generations to learn and cherish the history of our community. Not many original one-room schoolhouses still exist in our state, or even in our country for that matter, so Central School will offer a valuable and unique educational experience for students and teachers in our community and beyond.”

Under the direction of a Schoolmarm or Schoolmaster, students will experience what learning was like in a one-room multi-age classroom straight out of the past. The experience includes reading, writing and arithmetic lessons, as they were taught to school-aged children of the past in Mount Prospect. A recess break during which students play back-to-basics games of a by-gone era is even included.

Schoolmaster Dave Gudjonis recites from McGuffey’s First Eclectic Readers.

Set in 1896, the two-hour experience is aligned with Common Core State Standards and is rich in local history. During this interactive field-trip, modern students take on the roles of students from Mount Prospect’s past as they recite the ABCs of Central School, read from McGuffey’s First Eclectic Readers, practice their handwriting on slates and participate in a spelling bee.

The experience is offered as both a morning and an afternoon session Tuesday through Thursday. Teachers or home school coordinators may make reservations for the experience through the Society’s web-site at www.mtphist.org/centralschool or by calling the Society at 847/392-9006.

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Celebrating Laura Ingalls Birthday at Central Schoolhouse

Book review with Mrs. Runde

A group of Mount Prospect children recently gathered on a Saturday to celebrate author Laura Ingalls Wilder’s 150th birthday in the newly-restored 1896 Central School. The 4th graders had a book discussion about Wilder’s book, “These Happy Golden Years,” which focuses on her teaching experiences in a one-room schoolhouse.

Writing exercise
Mrs. Rittle

“The modern-day students wondered what it was like having all the grades together in one room with only one teacher,” said Deborah Rittle, program coordinator. She is a teacher at St. Paul Lutheran School in Mount Prospect.
Tin pails were packed with a simple lunch — an apple, sandwich, corn muffin and an old-fashioned candy stick — like Laura might have carried to her prairie school. Students churned their own butter for lunch by passing a jar of cream around and shaking it very well while discussing the story.
“We were delighted to have the book talk so well-attended, “said Michele Runde, a member of the museum’s living history committee. “It was a fabulous start to the fun and educational programs we plan to offer in Mount Prospect’s own historic one-room schoolhouse.”

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Watch The New Central School Fund-Raising Video

Watch the video!

schoolhousewebIn their never-flagging effort to raise the final funds necessary to complete the restoration of the 1896 one-room Central School and open it to school groups and the general public, the Mount Prospect Historical Society is taking to social media and even crowd-funding.

Members of the Society wrote and produced a short video about why the re-opening of the historic District 57 school should matter to everyone and enlisted the help of Lions Park School fourth grader Nolan Hahn and his neighbor and friend, Anna Toneva, a sixth grader at Lincoln Junior High, who both appear in the video.

St. Paul Lutheran School third grade teacher Deb Rittle, a member of the Society’s board of directors and author of the curriculum which has already been developed for the restored schoolhouse, is also featured.

The video has been posted on the Society’s two websites, www.mtphist.org and www.yourcentralschool.org and its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/mphistory.  The Society has also launched a Go Fund Me crowd-funding site (www.gofundme.com/centralschoolhouse) and the video can be seen there.

The video is also expected to be shown in local schools that are participating in the October “Cents for Central School” campaign to collect spare change for the restoration effort and it may even appear on the local cable channel, MPTV.

“Central School means a lot to me because I want to see part of our Mount Prospect history come back,” explained Hahn when asked about his participation.   Hahn was the 2015 winner of the Celestial Celebration Rising Star Award, bestowed by Mount Prospect’s Special Events Commission.  He was honored for his work making jewelry and selling it for the benefit of the historic schoolhouse.

For more information, phone 847-392-9006.