Historical Society Archives

Moore School

815-853-4227

About the Moore School

The Moore School was located in the southwest corner of Section 3 in Osage township.

This school was established even before the township was organized. Moore School was formed on April 21, 1855, on the land of Newton Ward.

Moore School continued to educate students into the 1940s. From 1940 to 1945 a total of 47 pupils were instructed in District 12.

Moore School had many teachers. Although most names have been lost, Kathryn Healy (1918-1947) and Anna Egan (1908) both taught in District 12 at some time.

It is proposed to move the school into the far North East area of the uptown pavilion area.

Schools were identified by the school district numbers, but also by proper names. They were sometimes known by the community they served such as Dana Elementary school, in Groveland Township, or names for the township in which they were located, with a modifier for East, West, North or South added, as in Osage Center school.

Class of 1930, left to right: Clare Klieber, Bernice Berninger, Ellen Klieber, George Stager, Giles Sullivan, Teacher: Miss Kathryn Healy, Gerald Berninger, Mickey Moore, Edwin Moore, Margaret Klieber, Edith Gerdes, Edna Gerdes & Johnnie Sullivan.

Actor Fritz Klein of Springfield, Illinois has been a full-time actor and speaker for many years. Klein was first asked to portray Lincoln after performing as Lyman Beecher in a local history pageant in Kailua-Kona, Hawai’i where he lived at the time. After a number of requests for repeat performances, he decided to begin extensive research in order to write a one-man production on Lincoln. That production has led to many others. He has since performed as Lincoln in 43 stat…es and internationally as well. He and his wife Linda now reside in Springfield, Illinois where he performs at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, as well as many other venues around the country. In the summer Klein plays Lincoln in a variety of venues around Springfield in the local “History Comes Alive” program.

Students from Fieldcrest East enjoyed a day learning about Abraham Lincoln at the Moore School. The classes each were given a special presentation by Rose Hanssen (former student of the Moore School) about life going to school in a one room school house. Each class then learned about the time growing up as Abe Lincoln. The group enjoyed a question and answer session. The Wenona Bond Library was on hand with Lincoln displays and memorabilia.

It was brought into Wenona at its current location on November 14, 2015. Transformation has been made possible by community member and volunteers.

Donations can be made to:
Moore School Restoration Committee
PO Box 533, Wenona, IL 61377

Please call City Hall @ 815-853-4227 for an appointment to visit the Moore School.

Wenona Coal Mine Site

The Wenona Coal Company

1883-1925

The Beginning of the Mine

The depression of the 1870s hit Wenona hard, as it did all farming communities, and many went out of existence or consolidated with others. However, by 1883, business was good again, aided materially by the opening of the coal mine in 1882. The Wenona Coal Company had its beginning in 1873 when Henry Clark of Streator was hired to do some prospecting for coal. How-ever, nothing much was done until 1882 when the first third vein coal was mined. The company incorporated in 1883 with William M. Hamilton, L.J. Hodge and E. Monser as original incorporators. Monser later bought out his two partners and continued to head the business until his death, at which time his two sons be-came owners.The depth of the shaft was 576 feet and the vein of coal varied in thickness from 3 to 4 feet. At the peak of employment, in 1910, there were 450 men employed, 380 of who were actually mining the coal. Peak production averaged be-tween 900 and 1000 tons per eight-hour shift. The coal was all hand-mined until machinery became available. But even with machinery, there was always some coal mined by hand. The mine operated one eight-hour shift, six days a week. There was a small second shift of mainte-nance men , engineers, inspectors, etc. but no coal was mined during the second shift.The first immigrants that worked in the mine were Irish and Cockney English who had come to build the railroad and then stayed in Wenona to work on the mine. Many other immigrants came from Central and Eastern Europe to work in the mine. With that, the families that moved to Wenona to mine coal brought with them their own cultures, traditions and pastimes to the community.

The Fall of the Mine

After the first World War, competition from non-union mines of Kentucky and big mines of southern Illinois forced the gradual closing of the northern Illinois coalfield, due to its relative high cost of production. The Wenona Coal Co. closed its mine in 1925, although the company continued in the coal business until 1953. At the time, the owner was Edward L. Monser, grand-son of one of the original incorporators, which made the Wenona Coal Co. the oldest business in town under the same name and owned by the same family.

Other Mine Facts

In their annual reports, the State Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the following men died in the Wenona Coal Mine from 1893 to 1924:

Michael Thomas (1899)
Mathias Hoge (1904)
James Smith (1918)
John Morris (1921)
Emil Block (1922)

In the early 1920s, Wenona had over 300 residents work in the coal mine. These hard working men were called to work each day by a whistle. If the mine blew a whistle at 5:30 at night the workers knew they should report to work the next day.

Cold War Radar Station

1958-1959

At the height of the Cold War, the highest spot here in town, played a role in US defense. Be-ginning in April 1958, a top the slag pile from the old Wenona coal mine, a radar station was developed which was equipped to detect incoming missiles and enemy airplanes potentially headed to Chicago or Milwaukee. The radar station was manned by approximately 20 troops from the 45th AAA Brigade and the 105th Signal Corps Detachment. It could detect aircraft as far up as 75,000 feet in any direction, and as far away as 200 nautical miles.The Wenona station was one of 10 stations set up in Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin within 200 miles of Chicago in the Chicago Air Defense System. The radar station included two metal building and the radar antenna. The base of the slag pile was surrounded by six-strand barbed-wire fence. Prior to constructing the buildings on top of the slag pile, 30 feet was graded off the top and a circular roadway was built around the slag pile from bottom to top.The following men served at the Wenona Radar Station and settled in Wenona after completion: Russ Martin, James Brown, and Howard Engler. The Army left Wenona in 1959, but before leaving town, planted seed on the mound which gave way to the beautiful forestry seen today.The Wenona Coal Mine Historical Site was dedicated by members of the Wenona Historical Society on August 10, 2018 during the Wenona Days celebration. It is the hopes of the society that future generations may visit this site to learn about its unique history within the heart of the community.