Dement School dates to 1856 and the erection of a wood-framed school at the site—the east side of Section 28 in Danvers Township. The original building was replaced in 1871. Around the same time, another schoolhouse, only twelve by fourteen feet, was located on the same lot. The separate and decidedly unequal school was built for four Black children then living in the district. This arrangement of racially segregated schools led to the 1897 Illinois Supreme Court case Chase et al. v. David Stephenson et al. The Court ruled against the district and its segregated schools based on the misuse of public funds. The erection of a schoolhouse “solely to instruct three or four colored children of the district,” concluded Justice Alfred M. Craig for the majority, “can only be regarded as a fraud upon the taxpayers of the district.” The larger questions involving racial equality and equality under the law, though, were left undecided.
Interestingly, the origin of the school name Dement remains a mystery, “Remodeled in 1930, Dement became one of the most convenient rural schools,” noted William Brigham in his 1951 The Story of McLean County and Its Schools. “For some time they enjoyed an excellent community club.” The one-room rural district was incorporated into the Danvers Unit in 1948.
Scope
The collection includes school schedule (monthly records of children attending, teacher, and attendance), annual reports, a school survey communication report, taxes, state treasurer retirement system report, and general district information from the District.