The History of Youngstown High School
Youngstown (population 50?) is located in western Illinois in the south-central portion
of Warren County. Youngstown is situated on County Road 20th Avenue about 3 miles east of U.S. Route 67. County
Road 90th Street also leads you to and from Youngstown. Youngstown is about two blocks from north to south and one block from
east to west. The town sits about 11 miles north and a little east of Macomb. (www.mapquest.com).
According to the book titled "The Past and Present of Warren County", as found on-line by John
Bybee (http://www.archive.org/stream/pastpresentofwar00chic#page/176/mode/2up) the village of Youngstown was platted in 1872 on a farm owned by the Kidder family. In 1877
there were "one or two stores" in town and "one or two other stores" erected prior to 1877. A railroad was built that traveled
through town however, because of Youngtown's close proximity to Swan Creek (2 miles to the west), the railroad company did
not want to make a stop in Youngstown. The town's people protested and eventually received a depot for the railroad.
The school at Youngstown was said to be established for several years prior to 1877. At that time plans
were being made to have the school building expanded due to the large number of students attending. Today all that remains
of the school is the grounds that the bulidng once occupied along with the cinder block shed and old pump water well you see
in the photo above to the right.
.
For several years the school district in Youngstown offered a two-year course of
high school study. This information was uncovered by our good friend Roberta Van Briesen. Roberta
wrote the following to us:
"I have located information regarding a closed high school, it was in the
Tales From Two Rivers book, which was a project from Western Il Univ. They did several books and book V has
an article in it by my dad, it was a senior citizen project. There is story in there about Possum Hollow. The
man who is referred to in the article attended school in Youngstown, Il. It was a 2 year high school, in the second
floor of the school, and he mentions they had a "compact gym." This is a coal mining area in western Illinois,"
This is currently the extent of the information we have regarding Youngwtown High School. The photo
above was obtained by another Glory Days fan, John Bybee. John was able to retrieve the photo of
the Youngwtown School building from Carol Parrish of the Warren County Historical Society.
Youngstown High School Quick Facts
Year opened: 1920s?
Year closed: late
1940s?
Consolidated to: Sciota
West Prairie High School (?)
Y-town HS Team Nickname: unkown if sports offered
