Editing Carrier Mills, Illinois (section)

=== Local school history ===
[[File:Carrier Mills High School in 1905.jpg|thumb|200px|right|First Carrier Mills Public School in 1905. This building burned and was rebuilt in 1938.]]
[[Image:Carrie48.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Carrier Mills High School, erected 1940.]]
The first school in Carrier Mills was a large, two-story wooden structure with a bell tower. It was built in the early 1820s and located near the old Sahara Coal Company preparation plant (now abandoned), just northwest of the village. [[File:Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Carrier Mills, Saline County, Illinois. LOC sanborn01769 001-1.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Carrier Mills traditional business district with listed buildings, 1914.]] The little structure was made of logs and had a clay chimney. School year began in August and ended in October because of the extreme cold. A typical school in 1850 was a subscription school - a fee of $2.50 was charged for a two-month period. From the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] period until 1875, the only formal school was located near Salem.<ref name="Hiscmills"/>

In 1887, the first school building in Carrier Mills Village was purchased for the purpose of being a prescription school at the corner of Walnut and Main St. The first major public school in the town was opened in 1903 on Furlong St. The first recognized two-year high school course was started in 1915. In 1917, the high school became a registered three-year high school until 1926 when it became a community high school fully accredited by the state of [[Illinois]].

Around 1940, the Carrier Mills Public School building burned down after a disastrous fire starting during a [[Boy Scout]] meeting in the basement. A much larger school was built a year later as a grade school around the frame of the first burnt school.<ref name="Hiscmills"/>

On February 4, 1938, the present High School was completed and occupied, with the gymnasium and auditorium added in 1940. The current enlarged gym was built in 1950–51. At the beginning of 1963, the small town of [[Stonefort]] joined the Carrier Mills school district creating the Carrier Mills-Stonefort Unit 2 School District.<ref name="Hiscmills"/>