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Robert Bike

Robert Bike

Licensed Massage Therapy #5473
Eugene, Oregon

Teaching Reiki Master

EFT-CC, EFT-ADV

541-465-9486

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Biblical Aromatherapy
I wrote a book about healing with plants from the Bible.
Reiki classes
All levels taught.
Member OMTA & ABMP.
Webmaster for the Oregon Massage Therapists Association (www.omta.net)

I graduated from Freeport (Illinois) High School.
I'm a Pretzel!
Pictures of my 40th reunion in August 2006

Robert's Blog


The Polaris is the high school annual from Freeport High School, Freeport, Illinois.

All text and photos Copyright 2002 - 2008 Robert L. Bike, except for direct quotes from the Polaris, uncopyrighted material in the public domain.

The Class of 1905

Unfortunately, the photos of the Class of 1905 are only identified by last name, so as I discovered first names, I added them. The only one I haven't identified is Miss Gale. Anyone know who she was?.

Harry Angle, Eva Armour, Margaret Armstrong,

Lura Bennethum, Florence Brubaker,

Bessie Capron, Laura Clark, Arthur Clermont, Edith Courtney, Roy Cromley,

Frank Dailey,

Earl Eichelberger,

Ethel Ferries, Paul Frank, Madge Furry,

Miss Gale,

Oscar Heard, Margaret Hershey, Mary Alice Hill, Herbert Hime, Oscar Hively, Carrie Hoefer, Laura Hoefer, Earl Huenkemeier, Ada Hunt,

Nellie Jones,

Eloise Kintzel, Cora Koenig,

Flora Lamm,

Elsie Mallory, Frank Markel, Florence Marr, Jane McConville, Charles McCool, Lillian McGrath, Anna Meyer, Ralph Morris,

Mary O'Connor, Jane Osborne,

Claud Parks,

Stephen Rigney, Ellen Runner, Lillian Rust,

Melville Schaub, George Schoeffel, Albert Steffen, Helen Strong, Mary Sullivan,

Ethel Taggart, Norman Tuckett,

Walter Vautsmeier, Ada Voigt, Alfreda Voigt, Luetta Voigt,

Mazie Warner, Bessie Weisser, Chester Wells, Jessie Wilson.

(Students are described as Miss or Mr. if I don't know their first names.)

The 1905 Polaris

1905 was the first year the Polaris came out under the current name. It was the name of the school newspaper, with the final edition as a yearbook.

The Senior Class of 1905

The Senior Class of 1905. Top row: Mallory, McConville, Runner, Huenkemeier, Cromley, Strong, Markel. Third row: Hunt, Frank, Hershey, Angle, Rigney. Second row: Marr, McCool, Bennethum, Steffen, McGrath, Ferries, Eichelberger, Warner. Front row: Voigt, Jones, Clermont, O'Connor, Schaub, Gale, Voigt.

The Senior Class of 1905

Top Row: Koenig, Osborne, Kintzel, Morris, Furry, Capron, Tuckett. Third row: Wells, Armour, Hill, Vautsmeier, Brubaker, Schoeffel. Second row: Hively, Clark, Voigt, Armstrong, Sullivan, Taggart. Front row: Heard, Hoeffer, Rust, Meyer, Parks, Hoefer, Daily.

Volume 1, Number 8

Volume 1, Number 8. The Polaris. Freeport, Illinois, June, 1905. Principal L. A. Fulwider.

Some prominent Freeport buildings

Some prominent Freeport buildings are shown. Top left, City Hall. Bottom left, the YMCA (across the street southeast from the Courthouse. Center, the Carnegie Library. Top right, The Freeport Club. Bottom right, the Post Office and U. S. Court.

Baccalaureate
Baccalaureate

Commencement
Commencement

The Polaris Staff

The Polaris Staff

Top row: David Graham - Exchange, George Schoefffel - Business Manager, Edward Luebbing - Assistant, Harry Angle - Forum, Kenneth Burrell - Junior, Clarence Chapman - Athletics.
Middle row: Florence Brubaker - Associate, Charles Sullivan - Sophomore, Chester Wells - Editor, Edith Swingley - Junior, Laura Hoefer - Alumni, Fenton.
Front row: Jane Osborne - Proof Reader, Clarence Young - Freshman, Lillian Rust - Sigma Delta, Marjorie Verbeck - Sophomore.
Not shown: Clara Ryan - Sophomore Literary, Margaret Armstrong - Senior, Joseph Faubel - Staff Artist, Helen Strong - Proof Reader.

Forum

The Forum boys' literary society, first organized by Prof. Scrogin in 1900.

Top row: McColloch, Wheeler, Sullivan, Vautsmeier, Erwin, Wells, Parks.
Third row: Hively, Luebbing, Angle, Rigney, Leibetrau, Fitch.
Second row: Holmes, Schulte, Steffen, Burrell, Eichelberger, Nestlerode, Madden.
Front row: Rigney, Davenport, Schoeffel, Wagner, Nolting, Graham, Schaub.

Sigma Delta

Sigma Delta literary society of FHS was organized in September 1904, composed of Junior and Senior girls.

Top row: Gale, Bricker, Armstrong, Jones, Caapron, Brice, Mayer, Rust, Warner, McGrath.
Fourth row: Osborne, Marr, Swingley, Runner, Jones, Bennethum, Hill, Hoefer, Kintzle, Furry, Hill.
Middle row: Chapple, Hill, Littwinkski, Wilson, Voight, Dryer, Brubaker, koenig, Strong.
Second row: Holland, Ziegler, Figely, Grant, Ditzler, Lamm, Ferries, Watson.
Front row: Vaupel, Jones, Murphy, Brine, Armour, Courtney, O'Connor, Hoefer, Voigt.

The Palladians

The Palladians began in the spring of 1905, consisting of Sophomore girls.

Top row: Ewing, Youngblut, Hill, Kelly, Hoover, Baltser.
Third row: Kruse, Trotter, Collins, Rosenstiel, Barshinger, Kruse, Faerber.
Second row: Peight, Grattelo, Wagner, Brown, Parks, Moore.
Front row: Gale, Leitzell, Ryan, Verbeck, Frey, Wagner.

The 1905 Debating Team.

The 1905 Debating Team.

The first Freeport High School debate team.
Coach McGill, Wagner, Schoeffel, Burrell.

The 1904-1905 Basketball Team.

The 1904-1905 Basketball Team.

Top row: Rogers, Hively.
Middle row: McCool, Hime, Luebbing, Erwin.
Front row: Hanke, Schmelzle.

The 1904-05 basketball team were the Champions of Northern Illinois outside of Chicago. FHS outscored their opponents during the season by 554 to 285. The Northwestern Illinois High School League was created by Principal Fulwider. The State basketball tournament wasn't organized until 1908, so the team could not show their skills further than the Northern Illinois championship tournament.

The 1905 Girl's Basketball Team.

The 1905 Girl's Basketball Team.

Standing: Chapple, Jones, Jones, Runner, Hill, Hunt, McConville, Capron, Ditzler.
Seated: Hill, Ficeley.

How about those uniforms?

The Second Basketball Team.

The Second Basketball Team.

Standing: Schaub, Rogers, Schoeffel.
Seated: Chapman, Hanke, Hively, Clermont, Hoefer.

The 1904 Football team.

The 1904 Football team.

Standing: Gleason, Holmes, Wagner, Vautsmeier, Angle, McCool, Chapman, Nolting.
Seated: Goddard, Wheeler, Patton, Erwin, Schmelzle, M. Rigney, S. Rigney.
Front: Voss, Clermont.

The 1904 Football team had its most successful season ever, winning half its games!

The Second Football Team, 1904.

The Second Football Team, 1904.

Standing: Nichols, Coach Nestlerode, Madden, Behcenbach, Hutchins, H. Young.
Seated: F. Young, Fitch, Meisenbach, McCann, Best.
Front: Angle, Thorn.

The 1905 Baseball team.

The 1905 Baseball team.

Standing: McColloch, Goddard, Meisenbach.
Middle: Nestlerode, Clermont, Schmelzle, Voss.
Front: Young, Zanoni, Best.

The 1905 Track Team.

The 1905 Track Team.

Standing: Voss, Jones, Rigney, Goddard, Luebbing, McCool, Young.
Seated: Schmelzle, Madden, Meisenbach, Angle, Clermont.

The first ever Northwestern Illinois High School League track meet was held in Freeport. The league consisted of schools from Freeport, Lanark, Mt. Carroll, Rockford, Savanna and Warren. Freeport finished 4th. Clermont won the 220 yard hurdles for Freeport with a time of 28 seconds.

Freeport Manual Training School.
Freeport Manual Training School.

Freeport High School's most popular department appears to be wood shop. Note the mess on the floor!

Manual Training Exhibit.

Manual Training Exhibit.

Some of the articles made in Instructor Seefelder's department during the year. Considering the mess in the photo above this one, some fine furniture, clocks and frames have been made.

1905 Treble Clef Club.

1905 Treble Clef Club.

Back row: Jungkune, Hill, Windecker, Kelly, Starkweather, Rowland, Smith.
Front row: Holmes, Fenton, Furry, Instructor Hewitt, Kintzel, Dryer, Rust.

Assembly Hall
Assembly Hall

Every year advertising from local businesses makes it possible to publish the Polaris. Above & below are some of the 11 pages of ads from Freeport supporters.


The back cover of the Polaris.

My copy of the 1905 Polaris came to me in battered condition with a loose cover. Bending it to put it onto a flatbed scanner to share with all of you have made it worse. But I thought that this was well worth sharing. I don't know who owned this copy for the first 100 years. Inside was a clipping, probably from an earlier issue of the Polaris student newspaper of an attractive young woman:


Does anyone know who she was?


World War I Veterans from the Class of 1905

Herbert Hime, Officer's Training School, Camp Taylor, Kentucky.

Major Walter W. Vaustmeier, Aviation, Camp Kelly, San Antonio, Texas.


Oscar Hively was Superintendent of Highways for 37 years.


The 1905 Polaris has an article about the FHS Alumni Association, which was founded in December of 1904. It does not say which class each alumnus is from:

Office
Graduate
President
Al Fleck
1st Vice President
Katherine Porter
2nd Vice President
Ada Naylor
Secretary
Iva Swingley
Treasurer
Clinton Bennethum
Banquet Committee
Mrs. J. F. Fair
Banquet Committee
George Graham
Banquet Committee
Florence Miller
Banquet Committee
Oscar Dorman
Banquet Committee
Sarah Curtis
Membership
Ada Towslee
Membership
Paul Fair
Membership
Mary Stearns
Membership
Dr. Fred Bowers
Membership
Mrs. C. Fred Kuehner
Membership
Charles Green
Membership
Gertrude Hea
Membership
Walter Pfender
Athletics
Hon. O. E. Heard
Athletics
Dr. Louis Voigt
Athletics
Charles Bentley
Educational Progress
Alice Brown
Educational Progress
H. M. Barnum
Educational Progress
Miss Pattison
School Decoration
Winnie Taylor
School Decoration
Charles Hildreth
School Decoration
Mrs. D. B. Breed
School Decoration
Flora Guiteau

 


card postmarked 1905

Card postmarked 1905 showing Freeport looking northwest from the city limits. The Hobart M. Cable Company, locally known as the Organ Factory, is shown near the center. The railroad tracks are just visible in front of the winding Pecatonica River. The card was printed at Wagner Printing in Freeport.

First ME Church

Photo of the First M. E. Church, erected 1905.

1905 Letter

Letter postmarked December 3, 1905, from Freeport.


Freeport High School

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Last updated November 27, 2008