Harmony School plaquing

May 8

Harmony School Landmark Ceremony. The McHenry County Historic Preservation Commission hosts a plaquing ceremony at 1 p.m. Sunday, May 8, at Harmony School, 16903 Harmony Road. The 1931 brick school, designed by the celebrated architectural firm, R.E. Abell, was built at a cost of $7,000. It still boasts its orginal blackboards, windows and wood molding. Its forerunner, the first District 4 school on the southwest corner of Harmony Road and Route 20, was built in 1859 and lasted more than 70 years.

The school, which now houses a used car dealership, very nearly was destroyed as part of a state intersection improvement. However, the McHenry County Historical Society, county historic commission and the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency mobilized and succeeded in getting a proposed roundabout shifted east in order to save the school and an adjacent oak grove.