Churchville School evolved from the first school organized in Addison Township in 1837 to educate the children of the original settlers. By 1842, the township school trustees designated Churchville as District #3. The schoolhouse was built about 1850 on land donated to District #3 by August Fischer, son of Conrad Fischer. The property was to be used by the district as long as school was held on the site.  Many Bensenville children went to Churchville School until 1886 when the original Green Street School was built.

         Early schools in Addison Township were non-graded, one room schools which held classes only in the warmer months. Winter school was rare due to poorly heated buildings and long distances to walk. It wasn't until the turn of the century that all day school was held from September to May.

          Churchville School was typical of the public schools of the time. It housed eight grades in one room with one teacher, who was responsible for devising lesson plans and keeping the stove going. Originally, drinking water was carried from the parsonage across Church Road. In 1925, the well at the schoolhouse was built. There was no insulation in the building, so in cold weather students wore their coats  and kept their feet off the floor to keep warm.

           Regular school classes were held in this building until 1931, when a new brick school was built south of Grand Avenue. Until 1950, classes met at old Churchville School one day a year to fulfill the legal claim of District #3 to the property. When public school classes were no longer held here, the property reverted back to the Fischer family.

           The schoolhouse did not stand idle. Beginning in 1932, it was the meeting place of the Churchville Community Club and served as the overflow area for the Immanuel Church Sunday School.  Later, Al Benziger's Boy Scout Troop met in the schoolhouse, as did the White Pines Civic Association.  It also served as a polling place.

            By 1967 the school building had fallen into disrepair and a group of former students and neighbors began to rebuild it. Willard Fischer, Monroe and Jim Fischer, Everett, Dan, and Kenneth Fischer, Ed and Elmer Schultz, George and Louis Cornille, William Smeja, Al Benziger, and Robert (Smokey) Smeja restored the building to its present condition in 1967-1968.

            The Churchville Historical Society used to meet in the schoolhouse, maintained the site, and made it available for tours.  The school still stands on its original site.

            This information was taken directly from articles in the local history file in folder eighteen. For more photos and information about Bensenville schools, go back to the Main Menu and click on Schools.

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