Recently, teachers and students of the shuttered Richland Grade School (NTPL #99) have been sharing their memories of being a “River Rat,” which I have really been enjoying. The Richland Bottoms seems to be a very nice close knit community. A little town unto itself which used to have its own neighborhood school being brought back to life by memories of those who attended.

A comment got me curious though…

Our brother Larry helps take care of the mowing around the union hall and our side of the tunnel. It is still there but closed off at both ends. Red Butler still lives in his house across the street from the school. Soo many memories.

The tunnel? I inquired…

The highway extension for which the tunnel was built connected to the Cedar Street Bridge. It was to allow access to Richland School but what it accomplished was to ultimately close the school and leave the Richland area abandoned.

I drove around the neighborhood for a good twenty minutes looking for the school before I finally broke down and asked someone. Of course! It’s on the OTHER side of the Cedar Street bridge – hence the need for the tunnel to connect the neighborhood to the neighborhood school.

If you want to find it, it’s on Maple Street.

Thank you to the passerby for directing me back to the school and to the young man who showed me where the “Old Tunnel” is, as he called it.

(Josh & Scio – you have obviously been paying way too much attention.)

Information about the Richland Bottoms and specifically Richland School is hard to come by. The only reference that I could find to Richland School is a TopoZone map identifying it as an historical item.

Until I learn more, I’m going to theorize that the great 1943 Flood is possibly what did this school in.

A 2005 Peoria Journal Star article, in reference to rebuilding of the East Peoria Levee had this to say:

“In May 1943, the Illinois River reached a level of 28.8 feet, the highest in Peoria’s history. At the time, industrial plants were working three shifts to meet government demands for World War II supplies.

Some plants had to shut down, and hundreds of men and women working on government contracts were laid off. Floods covered railroad tracks, and roads washed away.

More than 1,000 men worked day and night stacking sandbags along the levee which nearly broke several times. An estimated 250 families moved out of the East Peoria Richland area in fear the levee and dikes would not hold.”

UPDATE 1/2/2007 : I tried, but my theory is way off base.  According to two commenters, the school was open into the 1970’s.