Port Byron HS Red Devils

Port Byron, Illinois (population 1,535) is located on the panhandle of Rock Island County in Northwestern Illinois along the mighty Mississippi River and on the Great River Road, Illinois Route 84. The village was founded in 1836 and once had a junior college near the turn of the century that had dormatories. The above pictured building is the aforementioned academy. The year the building was erected is not available at this time. The dormitory rooms were located in the original, middle section of the building. The gymnasium, located to your right of the main building above, was added onto the original school many years ofter its' initial construction.

Port Byron High School consolidated with Cordova and Hillsdale High Schools in the mid-1950s (around 1955) to form Riverdale High School. The above pictured Port Byron High School building served as the "new" Riverdale High School building until 1967, when a truly new building was constructed between the towns of Port Byron and Hillsdale. The web address for the Riverdale School District is http://www.riroe.k12.il.us/riroe/riverdale/ .

The Port Byron High School Building is still standing, used now as a business called Commercial Towel Service (CTS). The building was recently determined to be structually sound and prime property for lofts overlooking the Mississippi River. Let's hope the future remains bright for this one-time educational palace.

Port Byron High School Quick Facts

Year opened: late 1800s / early 1900s

Year closed: 1955

Consolidated to: Riverdale School District

School nickname: the "Red Devils"

School colors: Red & White

School Fight Song: unavailable

Athletics

Port Byron offered a variety of athletics in their existance. It is known that Port Byron competed in the old Two Rivers Conference during the 1940s and 1950s. Member schools included *Cordova, *Hillsdale, Erie, Prophetstown, *Lyndon, *Atkinson, Annawan, *Tampico, and *Mineral (* denotes school on this site). Like most small schools in northern Illinois, basketball was probably the most followed sport. Port Byron's Red Devils won three District Championships in Boys Basketball, coming in back-to-back-to-back seasons in the middle 1950s. Information is needed on other teams and records of Port Byron High School.

Boy's Basketball

1949-50 District Runner-up Coaches names unavailable

1952-53 District Champions

1953-54 District Champions

1954-55 District Champions

Football

The Port Byron Red Devils also competed in football in the Two Rivers Conference. Behind the school pictured above lies land known as the Dorrance Park Forest Preserve. The land adjacent to the back of the school building served as the Port Byron football field and was host to many "Friday Night Lights" grid iron contests. Today the old field has given way to baseball diamonds for the town of Port Byron.

Tom Sikorski found out the following facts about the Port Byron grid iron successes:

1950 Two Rivers Conference Co-champs (4-1)

1952 6-0 Two Rivers Conference Champions Coach Mel Smith

1955 8-0 Two Rivers Conference Champions

1955 was the last season Port Byron independently fielded a football team. Last win was 54-12 over Hanover.

More Information Needed

More information is being sought about Port Byron High School; use the Guest Commentary Form or the School Submission Form to submit. If you have more Information about Port Byron High School, including the nickname, school colors, the school song and especially win-loss records and other great teams you would like to share please e-mail this website at ihsgdwebsite@comcast.net. .

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Illinois HS Glory Days
6439 N. Neva St.
Chicago, IL 60631