Creation of District 47 & 155
On December 6, 1919, Community High School District 155 was established by an election. It included the villages of Ridgefield, Cary, Fox River Grove, and Crystal Lake and covered 69 square miles. After the creation of District 155, Crystal Lake-Nunda Union District 47 only dealt with the elementary schools and a petition was started calling for consolidation of many smaller districts into District 47. H.A. Dean continued to serve as the superintendent for both districts and an agreement was created that allowed District 155 to rent the high school building from District 47 from 1920 to 1924. When rural Geer District 50 and Pendleton District 79 were annexed to District 47, the name of the District was changed to Community Consolidated District 47.
In December 1921, the community authorized the construction of a new building and land for District 155. On February 4th, 1922, the site was selected for the building at the corner of Franklin and Wallace Streets and construction began in 1923. On May 12th, 1924, the high school students moved into their new building. District 47 made the former high school building into a junior high school housing grades 5 thru 8 and its neighboring structure became the elementary school housing grades 1 thru 4.
