Then & Now: Channahon High School – Channahon

The first school in Channahon Township was taught by the Rev. Perry using the residence of Russell Tyron as a classroom.

In 1837-38, six years before the village of Channahon was first laid out by Myrvin Benjamin, a wooden schoolhouse was built on the property of Dr. Ira Knapp.

By the start of the Civil War, the Channahon Township school system had expanded to include eight schoolhouses, two of which were located in the village of Channahon.

In 1869, an elegant and substantial two-story, white-framed building was erected on the southeast corner of Tyron and W. Eames streets (Route 6). The school offered a primary and secondary school education, and the high school department was managed by Professor Layburn, who was assisted by Miss Brown and Miss Blount.

Within a decade, Channahon Township schools were ranked one of the best-conducted schools in the entire country.

By 1872, the township sustained nine school districts with about 400 students, and 13 teachers were employed across the five schoolhouses and one grade school with a high school curriculum.

As the use of the eastern portion of the Illinois and Michigan Canal began to wane in the early 20th century, so did the population of the township. In turn, the school system saw a rapid decline in pupils.

In 1920, Channahon Township only had five school districts with seven contracted teachers who taught 126 students. At the two-story schoolhouse, the secondary education program had been reduced to two grades, with graduates completing their studies at the Joliet Township High School.

The two-story building, pictured in the Then photograph, was destroyed by fire in 1922. It was replaced a year later by a modest brick structure on the same corner that included a central assembly hall and two pairs of rooms.

All high school classes were discontinued in the building in 1947, when they were consolidated into Minooka Community High School. During the 1950s, additional classrooms and an auditorium and gymnasium were added to the structure to meet the needs of the growing township in the post-war era. Today, Pioneer Path School, shown in the Now photograph, operates from part of the old building and serves the educational needs of students in third and fourth grade.