Lake Forest-Lake Bluff History Museum

Everett School

Making It Home Timeline

Courtesy of Bess Bower Dunn Museum.

c. 1914. Image courtesy Bess Bower Dunn Museum.

c. 1939.

1980 - flag ceremony in honor of American hostages in Iran.

In 1914, Everett School doubled in size and left the one-room schoolhouse era behind. The year before residents approved a $5,000 bond for a new school, combining Lyons and Everett into one district. They purchased land from Louis F. Swift on Everett Road west of Waukegan, and erected a two-room brick Everett school.

Opened in 1914, Everett School featured two classrooms and a large basement where students could do gymnastics exercises.

In 1939, Everett School was modernized, its two large classrooms divided and special blackboards, which pulled out to reveal roomy storage closets, installed (see below). The photo above, with students on their way home from school, shows the exterior after the remodeling.

By the 1950s, with the baby boom in full swing, Everett School was again bursting at the seams. Architect Ralph Milman designed a new building which opened in 1957.

When Everett students moved to their new school in 1957, the City of Lake Forest converted the old school into a second firehouse. The Fire Department used it until 1993, when it was demolished and a new station constructed. Local residents, led by Shirley Paddock, saved and restored the old school bell.