Albion High School

Albion High School

Photo Courtesy of Michelle Abrajano

The History of Albion High School

Albion (population 1,933) is located in southeastern Illinois and is the County Seat of Edwards County. The Illinois Routes of 130 and 15 intersect in the middle of Albion. The Southern Railroad makes its way through the south side of town. There is also a creek that flows to the east of town and a lake that sits to the south of town. For location sake, two towns of note in Albion's area include Mt. Carmel 10 miles to the east and Mt. Vernon about 45 miles to the west.

According to the Illinois Trails web site, http://iltrails.org/edwards/index.html , Albion was "laid out" in 1830 by Morris Birkback and George Flower. It was not until 1860 however that the town became officially incorporated. Albion began making schooling available for its children in the late 1800s. At some point Albion offered High School courses for its kids. The high school served Albion for about four decades. In the late 1940s all of the school districts in Edwards County agreed to consolidate their efforts to form one unified district in the county. This would include the towns of Bone Gap, Browns, Ellery, West Salem, Albion, and several small country school districts. It was decided to house the new high school in the town of Albion. The new district was named Edwards County School District and began operations in the fall of 1948 with the high school being located in Albion (see alswo www.echs.edwrds.k12.il.us/ for more information on this consolidation).

The Albion High School building pictured above was not the original, and has since been torn down.

Albion High School Quick Facts

Year opened: late 1800s

Year closed: 1949

Building used for: Edwards County High School

School nickname: the "Lions"

School colors: Red & Black

School Fight Song: unavailable

Athletics

Albion High School is only listed on the IHSA web site (www.ihsa.org) in one sport, boy's basketball. We also know that Albion HS participated in football for a while. It is quite probable that baseball and track were offered at the school. School nickname, colors, fight song, team records, coach's names, and conference affiliation all are items of interest for this site.

Boys Basketball

The Albion High School boys had some good court skills on the hardwood. The only mention of the teams on the IHSA web site are the years and coach's names for those years. The school did win a District title and even a Regional title. If you have any further information you can add to the Albion High basketball success please write to us via e-mail.

1930-31 District Champions

1937-38 Coach Harold Hutchins

1938-39 Coach Harold Hutchins

1939-40 Regional Champions Coach Harold Hutchins

1940-41 Coach Harold Hutchins

1941-42 Coach Chester Gillette

1942-43 Coach Chester Gillette

1943-44 Coach Chester Gillette

1944-45 Coach Chester Gillette

1945-46 Coach Byrl Jarrett

1946-47 Coach David Hart

1947-48 Coach David Hart

Football

From Dave Rigg:

"This (photo below) is the first football team at Albion High School in 1923-24. I have the names of the backfield and 6 or the 7 linemen. Still trying to get the missing name. Here's what I have:
Line: Cyril Pierce, Gilbert Colyer, Wilbert Rigg, Wilmer Rigg, Harold Smith, and Glen Bunting.
Backfield: Quarterback (no helmet) Harold Hutchins (who later coached at Albion, Carmi & Mt. Vernon), Virgil Hortin, Warpy Longbons, and Lyman Racster."

Albion HS Football Team of 1923

Submitted by Dave Rigg

Seeking Your Assistance

If you have ANY further information about Albion High School before it became Edwards County High School, please share it with us. Photos and information can be e-mailed to us at ihsgdwebsite@comcast.net. You can write to us via real mail at:

Illinois HS Glory Days

6439 N. Neva Ave.

Chicago, Il. 60631