Why do so many high schools in Illinois have "township" in their name? (Joliet: school districts, legal)

[Doughboy1918]

One small detail I've noticed having studied Illinois, is that a large number of high schools in the state bear 'township' in their name, even in the more populated areas. A number of examples include Joliet Township High School, Evanston Township High School, Lockport Township High School, Ottawa Township High School, LaSalle-Peru Township High School, Belleville Township High School, etc. Is there a reason behind this peculiarity? Having studied a lot about the history of the American education system, I notice this is pretty rare anywhere else.

[Hiruko]

Originally Posted by Doughboy1918

One small detail I've noticed having studied Illinois, is that a large number of high schools in the state bear 'township' in their name, even in the more populated areas. A number of examples include Joliet Township High School, Evanston Township High School, Lockport Township High School, Ottawa Township High School, LaSalle-Peru Township High School, Belleville Township High School, etc. Is there a reason behind this peculiarity? Having studied a lot about the history of the American education system, I notice this is pretty rare anywhere else.

The school district boundaries usually correspond to the township limits.

[Doughboy1918]

Originally Posted by Hiruko

The school district boundaries usually correspond to the township limits.

Wonder why.

[mikeugh]

Originally Posted by Doughboy1918

Wonder why.

Do you understrand the township > Town - Range - Section development?

Makes perfect sense, especially if a larger city / town never developed or most of it stayed rural.

[Doughboy1918]

Originally Posted by mikeugh

Do you understrand the township > Town - Range - Section development?

Makes perfect sense, especially if a larger city / town never developed or most of it stayed rural.

Yes but I said even several larger places in Illinois have "township high schools" such as Belleville (population: 42k), Joliet (150k) and Evanston (78k). They're anything but rural. This is unusual as barely anywhere else in the country that are this size have high schools with township in their name, even if they were once smaller.

[Hiruko]

Originally Posted by Doughboy1918

Yes but I said even several larger places in Illinois have "township high schools" such as Belleville (population: 42k), Joliet (150k) and Evanston (78k). They're anything but rural. This is unusual as barely anywhere else in the country that are this size have high schools with township in their name, even if they were once smaller.

Evanston Township High School's original district boundaries were identical to those of Evanston Township. Evanston Township has since been abolished and in the 1930s, Evanston Township High School's boundaries were expanded to include about 1/4 of Skokie, a village that is entirely within Niles Township.

Similarly, New Trier Township High School's boundaries were initially identical to the boundaries of New Trier Township. Somewhere along the line, the boundaries of the district were expanded to include parts of Northfield Township (Northfield and part of Northbrook).

The civil township is a widespread level of government throughout Illinois. It was logical for school districts to be analogous to those townships.

[Doughboy1918]

Originally Posted by Hiruko

The civil township is a widespread level of government throughout Illinois. It was logical for school districts to be analogous to those townships.

That is strange. Is this not common anywhere else in the country with similar population density to Illinois?

[wjj]

Originally Posted by Doughboy1918

That is strange. Is this not common anywhere else in the country with similar population density to Illinois?

There is no rhyme or reason to school district names in Illinois, not just inclusion or exclusion of the term "township". And it can be misleading to newcomers who assume they will be in one district based on a name but in fact are in another district. For example, my kids went to Kildeer Countryside District 96 for K-8. There are eight schools in the district but none are in Kildeer - all are in either Buffalo Grove or Long Grove. Only a small portion of Kildeer is even within the district boundaries. So if one moves into Kildeer thinking their kids will be attending the very high rated Kildeer Countryside District 96 schools due to the name, they are likely to be attending Lake Zurich Unit District 95, which while being good schools, are not on the same level as District 96.

One has to carefully check elementary and high school district boundaries and assume nothing. Another example where newcomers often go astray in this area is Arlington Heights. They assume Hersey will be their high school since it is the only public HS in Arlington Heights, but they could end up in Hersey, Buffalo Grove, Prospect, or Wheeling HS. While the difference between Hersey, Buffalo Grove, and Prospect is minimal, if any, there is a pretty big gap between those three and Wheeling.

[Okey Dokie]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Land_Survey_System

This is probably way more info than the OP is seeking, but it’s important to note that each township was required to have a “school section” - usually just a one or two room school in the early days.

Just because an area is highly populated doesn’t mean the townships have gone away. They may not function as a governmental unit, but they are still used in the legal description of land.

[Doughboy1918]

Originally Posted by Okey Dokie

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Land_Survey_System

This is probably way more info than the OP is seeking, but it’s important to note that each township was required to have a “school section” - usually just a one or two room school in the early days.

Honestly don't worry about giving me 'too much' information. Whenever I research anything of interest, I'll always go to great lengths to find out as much as possible about it haha.