Hail, Benton High School

About the Book

In 1905, the St. Joseph Board of Education established a high school in South St. Joseph. For many years this area was known as “Skeeterville” because parts of the South Side were marshy since the area was near the river bottoms. Although requests had been made for a high school to be established there, school authorities felt that the people would not send their children to high school. Until Benton was established, there were no ties to bind the people of the different districts. When Benton was organized it was observed that Benton High School ". . . had the effect of bringing the families of different parts [of the South Side] into a closer relationship. The children became acquainted through their classes at school and their parents began to visit back and forth . . . . The South Side present[ed] a solid front in nearly every project of public nature which [came] up, and [was] getting its share of improvements, too. Fortified with this support, the first class of Benton High School set forth determined to succeed—the acorn from which the might oak has grown

About the Author

John Foley graduated from Central High School and St. Joseph Junior College in St. Joseph, Missouri. He received a B.S. Degree in Secondary Education and a Master of Arts in American History from Northwest Missouri State Teachers College (now Northwest Missouri State University) in Maryville, Missouri. He began his teaching career in 1964 at McKinley Elementary School in St. Joseph. In 1965, he transferred to Benton High School where he taught social studies for twenty-four years. He later served as Library Media Specialist there from 1989 until his retirement in 2001.