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Native Americans, mostly Potawatomi and Miami, and French explorers, soldiers, and traders roamed the hills of the Palos area in the 1700s. The first white man to settle in Palos was James Paddock in 1834. In 1838 the first school in Palos Township was built, located south of 123^rd Street at 100^th Avenue. It was a lean-to attached to the log cabin of Melachan A. Powell. Mrs. Chatfield was the first schoolmaster. The first log school was constructed by Thomas Harding, George Pettijohn, and Powell, in 1840 near 119^th Street and Kean Avenue. Classes were taught by Miss Ellen Savage.

The name of the local town was changed in 1850 from Trenton to Palos, as recommended by Powell. Palos is the namesake of Palos de Frontera, the port across the sea from whose harbor sailed the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. In Spanish Palos means "Tall Tree". In the early 1850s Richard Swift McClaughry bought a tract of land in Palos from Charles Boyer and donated one acre at 119^th Street and 88^th Avenue to be used as a site for a public school. In 1858 a one room frame schoolhouse was built at this site.

By 1884 there were seven one room schoolhouses in the township with a total enrollment of 266 students. McCord School, named for the McCord family, was located at 125^th Street and the east embankment of LaGrange Road. Mahaffey School, built by Sam Mahaffey in 1854 and located near Oak Hills Golf Course, served as a recruiting station during the Civil War. John Weir School was located at 123^rd Street and Wolf Road, near the present site of St. Coletta’s. Malony School, built in 1886 in northwest Palos Township, was moved in 1952 to its present location on 104^th Avenue, and is now known as the Little Red Schoolhouse.

In the late 1880s Catherine McClaughry was the first woman elected to take charge of the school at 119^th Street and 88^th Avenue. In 1909 an additional room was added to the structure. Catherine McClaughry became the principal and Nellie McMahon was employed as the primary teacher. In 1914 the Village of Palos Park was incorporated. In 1949 McCord School and Weir School consolidated into Palos Community Consolidated School District 118.

In the years following the end of World War II, the population grew so dramatically that churches and the Palos Park Village Hall were used for school instruction.

In 1951 Palos East School was built at 7700 W. 127^th Street in Palos Heights. In 1958 Palos Hills was incorporated as a city. Palos West School was erected at 12700 S. 104^th Avenue in Palos Park. In 1959 Palos Heights, formerly known as Harlem Heights, was incorporated as a city. In 1969 Palos South School was built at 131^st Street and 82^nd Avenue in Palos Park.

For 167 years Palos Community Consolidated School District 118 has provided a high quality education for the families of the village of Palos Park, the western half of the city of Palos Heights, and the northern portion of the city of Palos Hills, and adjacent unincorporated areas.

Edited by Dennis Bentley

August 2005