Dec. 11—POLO — As Polo works to demolish the former Congress School building, the historical society highlighted its 125-year history during Polo’s sixth annual Christmas Festival.
The historical tours led by Polo Historical Society members Beth Wiegmann and Mike Faivre were one of several events featured at the festival on Saturday. Starting at noon, the vintage-style trolley took riders on four one-hour rides, stopping at the locations of various schools and churches featured in the presentation.
One of the stops was the dilapidated school at 208 N. Congress Ave. Before its closure in 1985, the Congress School housed classrooms for Polo School District students in kindergarten through sixth grade.
“We wanted to make sure we give it a really nice honor before it leaves us,” Wiegmann said in an interview with Shaw Local.
The city purchased the building in August 2023 for $15,000, with preliminary plans to demolish it and build a senior housing facility in its place. That year in November, the city decided to condemn the building and seek grants to cover demolition costs of $200,000 to $300,000, Public Works Director Kendall Kyker said in an interview with Shaw Local.
About a year later, asbestos was found in several parts of the roof and ceiling tiles, so the City Council voted on Oct. 21 to approve a $66,900 bid to abate the asbestos. According to Kyker, that work was completed this month.
“We had to jump right in and get that out,” because if the roof collapsed, the asbestos would spread and the cost of demolishing it would double to about $500,000 or $600,000, he said.
From now on, we’ll just have to wait and see, Kyker said. The city continues to look for grant opportunities to continue with the original plan.
The history of the Congress School
The complete story of the Congress School begins in the “way-back machine” – as Wiegmann puts it – with the formation of Polo’s school district in 1857.
At that time 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 bluestone building that housed 500 elementary through high school students.
That school soon became overcrowded and in 1899 it was demolished 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, a leading American architect in the 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best known for his works in Chicago, 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.
Until the Congress School closed, there were four schools in the district. It was Centennial Elementary School, built in 1957, for students in kindergarten through fourth grade; Congress for preschoolers through sixth graders; Aplington, where seventh and eighth graders attended; and 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 graduating in 1981, Kyker said.
The main entrance to the Congress School faced West Locust Street. It had a lawn with a walkway leading to the front doors, which Wiegmann said were framed by a large portico supported by four pillars.
“The nice thing about the inside of this building is that it’s on different levels,” Wiegmann said.
If you entered through the main entrance, the office was on the left and there were stairs to go up or down. The cafeteria was downstairs and the classrooms were upstairs, she said.
To reach the upper floors, the school had a return staircase that led up half a level and then turned in the opposite direction and continued to the next floor, Wiegmann said.
The entrance to Wiegmann’s classroom was on one of those side and side half levels, she said.
According to Wiegmann, the Polo School Board voted 4-3 in March 1985 to close the convention. Later that year the school was formally closed and put up for sale.
Over the years the building has had 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 historic value, which would cost millions, Kyker said.
Ultimately, high renovation costs and the building’s large size caused it to fall into disrepair, Kyker said.
