Our School

            The Milan Township District #83 Schoolhouse served as a center for learning from the turn of the century until 1942. In 1942, it was closed and left to deteriorate. However, the schoolhouse was given a new lease on life when it was donated to the Blackwell History of Education Museum in 1996 and then rebuilt on the campus of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, IL.

Since 1999, the Milan Schoolhouse has been available to

• teachers at elementary and middle schools for re-enactment of a typical day in a one-room schoolhouse
  
• professors at NIU and other institutions, and teachers at high schools for classes and other events
  
• families and organizations for various activities
  

A Blackwell Museum staff member has created lesson plans for students in 1^st through 8^th grade that allow them to experience a school day in the early 1900s or 1930s, depending on the teacher’s preference. If you would like to reserve the schoolhouse, please call the Blackwell Museum at (815) 753-1236 or e-mail Curator Lucy Townsend at ltownsend@niu.edu.

More information about one-room schoolhouses, the Milan Township Schoolhouse and the lesson plans is available under the One-room schoolhouse link.

We wish to thank Dr. Eui-Kyung Shin, assistant professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning, for her guidance of Rebecca Edwards in the development of this curiculum.

Maps and Directions

For more information or to make an appointment, please call (815)753-1236