A local historical group is researching and writing a book on DeKalb County’s one-room schools and will include NIU’s Milan Township School on Annie Glidden Road north of West Lincoln Highway.

Project Director Marcia Wilson said an 18-member committee sponsored by the DeKalb County Historical Genealogical Society aims to have a 250-page book completed by year’s end.

The book will document the individual histories of the 150 schools spread across the county’s 19 townships. Additionally, the book will detail curriculum, school laws, lists of students and teachers and maps. The book will feature about 200 photographs.

The Milan Township School, originally located at the southeast corner of Tower and Perry Roads in Milan Township, was moved in 1999, said Rich Casey, instructional designer at NIU’s College of Education.

The school, built in 1900 and in operation until 1943, was reopened on Sept. 12, 1999 – 100 years to the date of the opening of NIU, Casey said.

“Northern’s history is rooted in the preparation of teachers,” Casey said.

The committee members are interviewing people who taught at or attended the schools, which existed until about 1950, Wilson said. The first school was built soon after the county was settled in 1836.

The book will be the society’s first publication, Wilson said. The society does not yet have a publisher, but Wilson said she hopes the book will sell in national chains and local book stores.

The committee is requesting that people with a story to tell or photographs of DeKalb County one-room schoolhouses call 895-2424.