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Schools

School District 304 Plans to Re-Name Fourth Street Office After Coultrap

In the wake of the Coultrap Building demolition, School District 304 aiming to rededicate its administrative offices after the esteemed local educator.

The item on Monday's Geneva School Board agenda says it all:

  • 6.6. Re-dedication of Central Office as Coultrap Educational Services Center 

With the pending demolition of the Coultrap facility that once was Geneva's high school, later its middle school and a grade school, School District 304 apparently wants to make sure the Coultrap name is preserved and honored in a facility of standing bricks and mortar.

As Kelly Nowak wrote in a history column on Geneva Patch, Harry Mansfield Coultrap arrived in Geneva in 1912 and became one of Geneva's early, if not first, superintendent of schools.

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Three elementary schools were constructed during his tenure, between 1916 and 1929: on Fourth Street, Sixth Street and Harrison Street. A "modern" high school building was constructed on Peyton Street in 1923, which is the building that took his name in 1958.

Coultrap retired in 1950, having served in what one newspaper reporter then described as the "most difficult job in the county" for 38 years. From that time, until his death in 1963, Coultrap and his wife Anna lived at 208 Logan Avenue, just across the street from Geneva High School.

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"His dedication to the community, and in particular to the students of Geneva, is remembered today as having been extraordinary, and his efforts established a firm foundation which continues to serve the needs of the community today," Nowak wrote.

 

Related Articles

  • HPC to Approach School Board About Preservation of Coultrap
  • School Board Will Look at Ways to Cut $6.38 Million Capital Improvements Plan
  • Coultrap Playground Fixtures to Benefit Special Education Students
  • School Board Will Raise Facility Rental Fees
  • School Board Members Want to Hear From You
  • Public Invited to Share Priorities with Geneva Board of Education on April 28
  • QuickStory: Task Force Calls for Coultrap Demolition
  • Citizens Group Begins 'Landmarking' Coultrap
  • POLL: Should the Geneva School District Demolish the Coultrap Building?
  • What to do with Coultrap??
  • QuickStory: Lots of Ideas on Coultrap's Fate—But District Will Keep the Land
  • POLL: Genevans Split on Whether Coultrap Should Be Torn Down
  • HPC to School District: Consider Adaptive Re-Use of Coultrap; Forums Coming in June
  • 'Landmarking' Is One Geneva Option for Citizens Who Want to Prevent Demolition
  • Icons For Sale: Which Will School District 304 Sell—Coultrap or Fourth Street?
  • No. 8 of 2010: Downtown Geneva's Evolution
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