Editing Cresco, Iowa (section)

=== Physical growth and development (1905–1913) ===
To meet Cresco's ever-changing educational requirements, a new high school building was erected in 1905. Citizens in the independent school district approved the project, with a budget not exceeding $25,000, in March that year. The construction bids were awarded in May, and by December, classes were already being held in the newly completed facilities.

The structure, 100 feet by 80 feet, was built out of pressed brick and Postville stone. It reached a height of 84 feet from the grade line to the top of its dome. The cornice and bell tower were made of galvanized iron. Though called a high school, the building held classes for students in grades 3 to 12.

The building's first floor consisted of the superintendent's office and five grade rooms. On the second floor was the seventh-grade room, six high-school classrooms, four recitation rooms, an assembly room, and a laboratory. The basement housed the manual training department and the furnace room.

The building used a steam heating system and an advanced ventilation system. In 1910, ''The Howard County Times'' wrote: "a series of air ducts lead to the cupola where a number of radiators form an upward current that completely changes the air of all rooms in approximately three minutes. Fresh air from the outside is first warmed over radiators and then conducted to all the rooms, after which it passes out through the ducts leading to the cupola."

In 1919, Cresco opened the east high school building and the West Ward school building. To finance these projects, bonds totaling $56,000 were issued.