Leadership changes at Mount Prospect Historical Society

Frank Corry, who as board president helped oversee the relocation and restoration of the Mount Prospect Historical Society's 1896 Central School, is stepping down from that post, officials said.

Corry, who joined the board in 2004 and has been president since 2013, will continue serving on the society's executive committee and will remain on the board through the end of the year. Deb Rittle, formerly the board secretary and a founding member of the education and living history committee, is the new president. The changes took effect this week.

"The society is undergoing an important transition, with its focus shifting from construction and restoration to educational programming," Corry said in an announcement of the leadership change. "The schoolhouse project dominated the society's overall efforts for nearly 15 years, but with the restoration complete, the society can now focus more clearly on its important educational mission. I was honored to serve at a time and in a capacity where I could contribute effectively, and I'm delighted to pass the baton to Deb. Her experience as an educator and her enthusiasm for programming are going to translate to wonderful things."

One of the state's few remaining original one-room schoolhouses, the Central School building cost about $500,000 to restore, thanks to the help of nearly 1,000 donors. It was relocated to 103 S. Maple St. on the society's museum campus in 2008 and opened in 2017 on the 100-year anniversary of the village's incorporation.

Since then, the schoolhouse has hosted 400 local students for half-day lessons to experience what it was like to go to school at the turn of the last century.

Rittle, a third-grade teacher, helped designed the schoolhouse curriculum and is now evaluating a number of new programming ideas, officials said.

The society also maintains the 1906 Dietrich Friedrichs house museum and the Dolores Haugh Education Center.