Depression-era murals will move to new Hill School thanks to donation

A $44,000 donation from an alumnus will save two tile murals at Hill Elementary School in Aurora and move them to the school's new building.

The money is coming from a man who didn't, at first, agree with the district's plan to tear down his childhood school.

The donation by Ken Donart of Oswego was announced to the West Aurora School District 129 board Monday night.

Donart attended Hill in the mid-1950s and 1960s. When he heard about the plan to raze the 129-year-old building, he called district officials to ask why.

They took him on a tour.

The outside looked great, Donart said, but conditions inside convinced him that students needed a new building to accommodate modern education.

The district will remove, restore and move two tile murals that were created by Works Progress Administration workers in the 1930s. The murals are over drinking fountains. They'll be put in the library of the new building, which is next door to the old.

"I wanted to save some of the past and move it in to the future," Donart said in a news release. "I loved those tile reliefs."

Donart started at Hill as a kindergartner in 1955. In the 1970s, he worked there as a substitute teacher. He spent 35 years as a teacher and resource center director for the Oswego school district.

He has won three Mayor's Awards from the city of Aurora for preservation work he did in the city and is secretary of the Oswegoland Heritage Association.

Donart's donation will also pay for some other items in the library, according to the district.

Student will move into the new building in the fall.

The old building at Illinois and Pennsylvania avenues will be torn down in June. The board approved a $440,193 demolition contract with KLF Enterprises Inc. on Monday.