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| Submitted by Jim Jeffries | ||||||||||
The History of Venice Lincoln High School
Venice (population 2,528) is a town located in southwestern Illinois along the Mississippi River on Il. Route 3. This places Venice approximately 4 miles northwest of East St. Louis. The Norfolk Southern Railroad and the Terminal Rail Road Association, or TRRA as most know it, of St. Louis Railroads run through the city. It is located in western Madison County.
It is believed Venice Lincoln High school was established near or shortly after the establishment of Venice High School which occurred in 1917. Lincoln was set up as a segregated African American high school on Venice’s south edge. The two high school system lasted in Venice for about five decades. In the mid 1960s the decision was made to integrate the two schools into one high school. The school district integrated one HS grade at a time starting in 1963-64. It is said the integration was quite successful and was helped by the immediate success of the school’s basketball program.
The old Venice Lincoln school building still stands and is in pretty good shape. The Venice School building where all the students went when they were integrated in the 60’s has been demolished. Ironically, all the students will now go back to the original Lincoln school building. When the schools of Venice and Lincoln consolidated, it was the Venice High School building that was used for conducting classes.
A photo of the Lincoln High School building can also be viewed at http://www.builtstlouis.net/eaststlouis/brooklyn01.html .
For information on VENICE HIGH SCHOOL left click here.
Venice Lincoln High School Quick Facts
Year opened: mid 1910s
Year closed: 1963
Consolidated with: Venice High School
School team nickname: the “Rams”
School colors: Blue & White
School Fight Song: unavailable
Athletics Venice Lincoln High School definitely competed in boys basketball. It is probable that baseball and track were also offered, possibly even football at one time. The Lincoln High school fight song, as well as conference affiliation, are being sought. We are told that in its early days Lincoln High School played many of its games with schools from Missouri. If you can assist us with this information please contact us by the means listed below.
Boys Basketball The Venice Lincoln boys basketball program dominated the small schools of the immediate area toward the end of its existence. The program won six straight District titles between the years of 1956-57 and 1960-61. At the time it was common for the District champs to be the 8th seed in the Regional, forcing a first round match-up with the number one seed. Lincoln was often matched with Collinsville or an East St. Louis team, schools many times their size in enrollment. Lincoln always put up a great fight, possibly even getting past the first round on one occassion, however they could not quite get over the hump in the second round. The best of the Lincoln HS basketball seasons, according to the IHSA webstie (www.ihsa.org) are listed below. Unfortunately the coach’s names and team records of these and other great Venice Lincoln HS teams are not currently available. 1949-50 4 – 11 Coach George Cross 1950-51 12 – 10 Conference Champions Coach George Cross 1951-52 17 – 9 District Champions Coach George Cross 1952-53 10 – 13 Coach George Cross 1953-54 10 – 13 Coach George Cross 1954-55 9 – 18 Conference Champs Coach George Cross 1955-56 14 – 14 Conference Champs Coach George Cross 1956-57 District Champions Coach Stan Lynch 1957-58 District Champions Coach Stan Lynch 1958-59 18 – 4 District Champions Coach Stan Lynch Beat Troy in Title Game 65-42 Lost in 1st Rd. of Regional to Collinsville 69 – 64
1959-60 District Champions Coach Stan Lynch 1960-61 District Champions Coach Stan Lynch Lost 1st Rd. Regional Game to Collinsville 83 – 64 1961-62 Coach Stan Lynch 1962-63 (School’s Final Season) Coach Stan Lynch
If You Have ANY Further Information… … regarding the many successes and acheivements of Venice Lincoln High School please write to us via e-mail at ihsgdwebsite@comcast.net. We are especially interested in a photo of the Lincoln HS building. You can write us via real mail at: Illinois HS Glory Days 6439 N. Neva Ave. Chicago, Il. 60631 |
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