Shelby School

Built in 1911, the Evan Shelby School was named in honor of St. Charles' first white settler. The school was constructed next to St. Charles' first public school, the West Side School, on the corner of Indiana and Fifth Streets. The West Side School, a brick structure with a tower, was built in 1854 and demolished in 1930.

Evan Shelby traveled to the Fox Valley with his sister's husband, William Franklin, in 1833 after the defeat of Native Americans in the Black Hawk War opened the territory for white settlement.

They claimed property on the east side of what was to become St. Charles, just north of Baker Memorial Park. In the spring of 1834, the two men returned to the Fox Valley from their homes in Indiana to build a log cabin and clear the land for farming. Later that year, William Franklin's wife, Lydia, and their two children moved to the new settlement.

The Evan Shelby School served as an elementary school for sixty-five years, from 1911-1976. The St. Charles School District used this late Victorian brick structure for administrative offices from 1976-1983.

The building provided storage space for the St. Charles School District from 1983-1985. The School District sold Evan Shelby School in 1985. The building was then remodeled to provide office space for small businesses. Today the former school houses law and architectural firms, a counseling service, and economic consultants.

Sources

■ Architectural Survey, St. Charles Central District, St. Charles, IL. 1995.

■ Clauter, Hazel. Our Community--St. Charles. 1967. p. 38

■ Durant, Samuel. History of St. Charles, Illinois. St. Charles, Illinois, St. Charles Heritage Center, 2004. pp. 4-8, 30, 60, 65, 150, 152.

■ Jones, Carolyn. History of St Charles. 1987. p. 19