Hume is a town of 382 residents located in East Central Illinois, in far northern Edgar County.
It is approximately 29 miles southwest of Danville, approximately 29 miles east of Tuscola. U.S. Route 36 is the main
roadway leading to and from Hume and is shadowed by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. The Brushy Fork Creek
flows to the north of town. While earlier maps, from the 1850's, fail to show the existence of the town,
an 1895 map clearly shows the existence of the town of Hume. There are tax records from 1878 which also list residents
as being from Hume.
More information is being sought about the history of Hume and of Hume High School. If you can help
us out, please contact us at the information below.
Hume High School was in existence from the early years of the town, at least since 1900, until the
late 1940's. It was in 1949 that the school was consolidated with Metcalf, and other schools in Young
America Township, to form Young America High School.
According to Hume HS student Nelson McMullen, who finshed his junior year at hume
before graduating from Young America HS, there was a graduating class from Hume High School in 1899 or
1900, the year his grandmother graduated. The original school building is completely gone with only the gym still standing
. After consolidation with Metcalf, the school was used for grade and junior high school classes until its
further consolidation into Shiloh School District.
Young America High School was located in Metcalf and existed until 1968 when it joined Brocton-Redmon
to form the Shiloh School District. The Shiloh District is currently located, along with the junior high,
and a grade school, just south of Hume. In 1993 Newman HS consolidated into the Shiloh School District as
well. (Shiloh is C.U.S.D. #1 At Shiloh they can always say with certainty "We're #1!:>).
The original Hume High School building has been destroyed. We did find the building pictured below
to the right which was at one time the Hume High School gymnasium.
