Emerson School was built in 1858 for about $6,000. Originally named The Number Four School (after its City Ward), it was later renamed Emerson School in honor of Ralph Waldo Emerson. It was the first constructed building in our new district. The new building contained primary and intermediate rooms in the basement, two grammar rooms on the first floor and the high school was housed on the second floor, with another room for recitation work there, too. It was located on Taylor and Evans Sts. in what was then referred to as the "the extreme south-eastern part of the city." Today, this Bloomington neighboorhood is known as Dimmitt's Grove. This building served our district until 1907, when a new Emerson School was built south of this site – on the corner of Bell and Clinton Streets.
