Polo’s Historical Society pays tribute to former Congress School amid city demolition plans

POLO — As Polo works to demolish the former Congress School building, the historical society highlighted its 125-year history at Polo’s sixth annual Christmas festival.

The historical tours led by Polo Historical Society members Beth Wiegmann and Mike Faivre were one of many events featured Saturday at the festival. Starting at noon, the vintage-style trolley took riders on four, hour-long trips that stopped at the sites of various schools and churches covered in the presentation.

One of the stops featured the dilapidated school at 208 N. Congress Ave. Before its closure in 1985, Congress School housed classrooms for Polo School District students in kindergarten through sixth grade.

“We wanted to be sure to give it a really nice honor before it leaves us,” Wiegmann said in an interview with Shaw Local.

The city bought the building in August 2023 for $15,000, with tentative plans to demolish it and build a senior living home in its place. That year in November, the city decided to condemn the building and search for grants to cover the $200,000 to $300,000 demolition cost, Public Works Director Kendall Kyker said in an interview with Shaw Local.

About a year later, asbestos was found in various parts of the roof and ceiling tiles so the council voted Oct. 21 to accept a $66,900 bid to abate the asbestos. That work was completed this month, according to Kyker.

“We had to jump in right away to get that out of there” because if the roof collapses, the asbestos would spread, and the cost to demolish it would double to about $500,000 or $600,000, he said.

As of now it’s a waiting game, Kyker said. The city is continuing to look for grant opportunities to move forward with the original plan.

The history of Congress School

The complete story of Congress School starts in the ”way-back machine” – as Wiegmann puts it – with the formation of Polo’s school district in 1857.

Back then, there were two districts - north and south. They were combined in 1867. That year, the first school was built for the new district at the corner of West Dixon Street and North Congress Avenue.

It was an eight-room blue limestone building that could accommodate 500 elementary to high school students.

That school quickly became overcrowded and by 1899 it was torn down while a larger school was built next to it.

It became known as Congress School and opened in November 1899.

The building was designed by Joseph Lyman Silsbee, who was a prominent American architect during the 19th and early 20th centuries. He is most known for his works in Chicago as well as Syracuse and Buffalo, New York.

Initially, Congress served as Polo’s high school. The high school was then moved to the building on East Mason Street – now known as Aplington Middle School – until Polo Community High School was built.

Up until Congress School closed, there were four schools in the district. They were Centennial Elementary School, built in 1957, for kindergarten to fourth-grade students; Congress for kindergarteners to sixth graders; Aplington, where seventh and eighth graders attended; and the high school.

During those years, Wiegmann was a sixth-grade math and science teacher at Congress School and Kyker was one of her students before he graduated in 1981, Kyker said.

The main entrance to Congress School faced West Locust Street. It had a grass lawn with a walkway leading up to its front doors, which were framed by a large portico supported by four pillars, according to Wiegmann.

“The cool thing about the inside of this building is that it’s on different levels,” Wiegmann said.

Walking in through the main entrance, the office was on the left and there were stairs to either go up or down. The cafeteria was downstairs and classrooms were upstairs, she said.

To get to the upper levels, the school had switchback stairs that led up half a level and then turned the opposite way and continued up to the next floor, Wiegmann said.

The entrance to Wiegmann’s classroom was on one of those half levels off on the wings and to the side, she said.

In March 1985, the Polo School Board voted 4-3 to close Congress, according to Wiegmann. Later that year, the school was formally closed and put up for sale.

Over the years the building passed through many different private owners, each with their own idea of what to do with the building. Some wanted to turn it into apartments or restore it to its historical value, which would cost millions, Kyker said.

Eventually, high renovation costs and the large size of the building caused it to fall into disrepair, Kyker said.