McClure, Illinois is located in Alexander County near Cape Girardeau, Missouri. McClure sits about a mile southeast
of the Mississippi River on Illinois Route 3. The Old Prairie Creek flows through the center of McClure. The
town is not listed on the 2000 Illinois Census. Judging by the map provided by MapQuest ( www.mapquest.com) an estimate of McClure's population would be approximately 200 residents.
At one time, in the early 1900s, there were five country schools in this area: Cother, Round Pond, East Cape, McRaven
and Gale that consolidated into the McClure School in 1920. This made the McClure School System a K-12 building.
The school building, built in the early 1900's, had two rooms on two stories with four more rooms later added.
In 1938, McClure High School was built through an effort by the Public Works Administration (A Roosevelt "New Deal" organization).
The school districts of McClure, Wolf Lake and Grand Tower consolidated around the mid-1950's into the Shawnee School District
with the high school building located in Wolf Lake in Union County. McClure retained their building and was (or is?) used
as a grade school.
REQUEST:
"My name is Brad McClure I would like to know if anyone has any thing left of the McClure High erray.
If you do, please contact me through the IHSGD website crew at ihsgdwebsite@comcast.net .Thank You,"
McClure High School "Quick Facts":
Year High School opened: early 1900s
Year new school opened:
1938
Year closed:
mid-1950s
School Nickname:
unavailable
School Colors:
Red & Black
School song:
unavailable
| Lester Johnson, 1929, in his Letterman's Sweater |
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| Courtesy of Margaret (Johnson) Stubbings |
Athletics
McClure High School offered Basketball and possibly other sports. If you have any information about other sports offered
at McClure High School, please drop us a line. We are also looking for seasons records, coaches names, team nickname, and
school fight song.
| McClure HS Basketball Team of 1928 |
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| Courtesy of Margaret (Johnson) Stubbings |
Boys Basketball
In Boys Basketball, MHS won two District Championships, which are listed below. The photo to the right is
of the McClure High School basketball team for the 1927-28 season. Lester Johnson, father
of Margaret (Johnson) Stubbings, was a freshman and is the second boy from the left on the bottom
row (just left of the boy holding the ball). None of the others are identified in the photo. Please contact
us if you can identify them. Any further information regarding the McClure High School basketball program is welcome.
1946-47 N.R.A. District Champions
Coaches name unavailable
1951-52 N.R.A. District Champions
Coaches name unavailable
According to an area newspaper account from 1931, the McClure Basketball team of that time consisted of six of the
eight total boys that attended the school.
Memories
Cliff Burchyett (McClure HS Class of 1949) had these fun memories of his baseball playing
days at MHS:
"We had a "cracker jack" of a baseball team. Mr. Ferd Glaab was our coach. We always delighted
"beating up" on the Thebes, Wolf Lake, and Grand Tower baseball teams. They were our "arch" rivals like the St. Louis Cardinal and Chicago Cub "love affair." I was the McClure,
"bullet arm" catcher and delighted throwing out a couple of the Grand Tower players. I think their names were Charles
"speedy" Dickson and Gene "fast ball" Wills. You might check this out with them for verification
of the facts. Often, as we become more "mature" we remember things "the way we want them to be" rather than the way they
actually were."
Thank you Cliff, for this light-hearted account of your days at McClure High.
Seeking More Information
More information is being sought about McClure High School. If you have more information about MHS, including photos
of the school, nickname, athletes and other great teams and high school memories you would like to share, please e-mail
us at ihsgdwebsite@comcast.net or you may write to us at: Illinois HS Glory Days
6439 N. Neva St.
Chicago, IL
60631
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