A History of our High School

According to the 1917 Arthur Yearbook, Arthur High School alumni date back to 1892. The Arthur Township High School was built in 1916 (3) and its initial yearbook was published in 1917 and was called The Arthurite.  By the time the 1949 yearbook was issued, the district was known as the Arthur Community Unit Schools. Arthur High School remained so named until the publication of the 1997 yearbook, which was still named The Arthurite, but now the school was known as Arthur Jr.-Sr. High School.  

In July 2012, Arthur's longtime school district consolidated with the nearby school district in Lovington, Illinois forming a new high school name, Arthur Lovington High School. Two yearbooks issued in 2013 and 2014 were published under this new name.  The Lovington High school started in 1885. The school system (District 303) served the community and surrounding farm families for 127 years.(2) 

The history of the Atwood former solo school system is in need of research. We believe that the residents of Atwood had begun an educational process in their town during the late 1800s.  A high school probably followed shortly after. (1) The first yearbook called The Post was published under the school name of  Atwood High School in 1906. We know that Atwood High School served the town's children through the late 1940s.  

It was then that consolidation talks began with Atwood's neighbor to the west, Hammond.  Hammond yearooks are dated between 1929-1947. The talks were solidified in 1948 when the Atwood-Hammond School District was established. (1) The high school for the new district was located in Atwood, where it remained until the close of the 2013-14 school year. 

In August 2014, the high school once again changed its name to Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond High School after the Atwood-Hammond School District (39) annexed with the recently consolidated Arthur (Lovington) School District.