"This Monticello High School was recently torn down. They discovered a bas relief in one of the upper rooms that was a real work of art. It was a plaster relief of a panel of the Iowa Soldiers Memorial (Civil War) that was done with permission from the artist. One of Monticello's Civil War soldiers was used as a model for one of the soldiers pictured. (Farwell I believe was his name). The relief was saved, but the building is now gone.

"When I was in High School it was the Masonic Temple and we had hot lunch in the lower portion of the building. The High School that I went to was built in the late 1920's and now it is the middle school. The good people of Monticello Community have spent their hard earned money and built a new high school across from the Monticello cemetery along Hwy. 38.

"There is a very impressive alumni association at Monticello, and they have written a book that details all the teachers, staff, students from each graduating class and a general history of the changes in the school itself. They usually sell the book at the annual Alumni Banquet that honors each class in their ten, twenty, twenty-five, thirty, fourty, fifty and sixty post graduation years."

A new Monticello School History has been written for both the Sacred Heart and Monticello Public Schools and is available through the Monticello Express (111 E. Grand St. P.O. Box 191, Monticello, Iowa 52310, 319/465-3555) for $15.00. It features photos, history, rural schools, alumni and faculty listings. It is called "Seeds of Empowerment".

© Copyright 1997-2013, The Art Department, © Copyright 2014-2020, Richard Harrison.
Last updated on Friday, 16-Apr-2021 16:56:11 MST