Building History
After the founding of the Moline Board of Education, Moline High School took the form of a two-room schoolhouse. It was replaced with Central/Washington school, which housed grades 1-13, after its building completion in 1873. This, of course, was notably larger. Still getting progressively more spacious, a building nicknamed "the Castle" by passing travelers on the Mississippi became the new Moline High School in 1894. Its moniker referred to the architectural style which took a departure from the basic rectangular designs. It became "Central Grammar," an eighth-grade school, when the new 1914 building was built nearby. Central then was used as an annex for the high school on the same land, and as that became less necessary, Moline Community College occupied rooms. The basement was used as a recreational center as the building was losing its purpose. Finally, the most recent facility was built on the Avenue of the Cities. In close proximity to the former middle school, Calvin Coolidge, and the Roosevelt elementary school, the 1958 building is the most developed. It was built at a cost of about $4 million, which equates to nearly $30 million in today's money. One of the more striking designs featuring outer walls made nearly completely from glass, it introduced protruding wings which provided for fairly spacious classrooms and subject specialization. The large property allowed the architects to spread out the design, with one hallway stretching over 800 feet long. Despite its three-floor-section and countless classrooms, in 1968, a new J-wing and West gym were constructed to compensate for the over-population. It currently contains about 2,400 students from the combined Moline and Coal Valley areas as well as many teachers from the main Quad Cities area.
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