The Union Building(s) 1856-Today

(Several of these pictures and much of the information is from Ray Gottfried's book Pictorial Memories.)

 The Indian Council House(to the right of these two buildings) which stood from 1830-1853 was at the top of the park hill just south of the intersection of 4th St. and Johnson St.. It was used as a school by the first residents. It burned down in 1853. The first Union School (building on the right) was built in about1856. The building on the left was built in the late 1860's and was used as an addition to the school. They were used as a school until 1890 and are still used today as private homes.
The second Union School was built in 1882 near the intersections of Hazel St. and Walker St. This picture from 1885 shows the building as it would have faced Walker St. This was the only public school in town until 1896 and was grades 1-12.
In 1925 the West end of the present Union Building was constructed in front of the 1882 building. The section that appears in the back is the auditorium. The sidewalk leads to the front door of the 1882 section. The pine tree is still there.
In 1936 the East end of the present front was added and the 3rd floor of the 1882 building was removed and that building connected to the new section. The 1882 section contained the gym, locker rooms and several classrooms. You can see what remained of the 1882 building on the right. All of the trees are still there except the 2nd from the right.
In 1973-74 the last of the 1882 building was torn down and replaced with a new gym, music rooms, industrial arts rooms and a two floor elementary wing which connected to the 1925 section through one of the two auditorium doors.
New windows were added to the front in 1975 and the sign in 2001. Over the years the coal furnaces were converted to gas, the industrial arts room into a library and the sewing room into a computer lab. The building started out as 1-12, became 1-8 after consolidation and the completion of the high school in 1963, K-8 around 1970, K-9 around 1976 and back to K-8 when all 6th graders in the district were added to make a middle school in 1988 with the 9th moving back to the high school.