Many people are familiar with the stately old building located at 1615 N. North Street in Peoria. It has been the home of
Peoria High School since 1917, but its rich history began long before that. In fact, Peoria High School, established in 1856, is the
seventeenth oldest high school in the nation, the oldest high school west of the Allegheny Mountains, and the oldest continuously operating
public high school in the state of Illinois.
On Tuesday, June 7 at 7 p.m., WTVP will tell the story of an institution that has expanded, moved multiple
times and weathered controversy over the years. It will tell the story of changing social trends, fashions and fads that have influenced
the thousands of students who have moved through the halls of Peoria High, when it premieres Peoria High School: A History.
Betty Friedan, Bob Michel and Philip Jose Farmer are just a few of the distinguished alumnae of Peoria High, but other
familiar names are also sprinkled through the pages of its history – Jacob Gale, the judge who was also a School Superintendent in the
early years, Edward Hine, namesake of today’s Hines School, Julia Proctor White, who started the school paper, named “The High School Opinion.”
The program tells the story of other students who left an indelible mark on the school, including the sixteen who were
lost during the First World War; those like Earl McAuthor, who were lost during the flu epidemic of 1918; and the great athletes like
Johnny Zinser and Dick Moody.
Among those who help tell the tale of Peoria High and its history are Linda Sahn, Ken Hinrichs, Corky Robertson, Dick
Neumiller, James Polk, Kirk Wessler and Rebekah Bourland.
Peoria High School: A History, produced by William Baker, will be encore Sunday, June 12 at 5:30 p.m.
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For further information contact Linda Miller, WTVP Vice President of
Programming,
at (309) 495-0591 or linda.miller@wtvp.org
