 Thirty-three years after the city of Decatur, Illinois began as little more than a log cabin settlement along the banks of the Sangamon River, its first secondary school opened to hold a six-month school year, at the height of the Civil War in 1862-1863.The students met in a room in a building known as the Church Street School.From 1863-1869, the high school held classes in the Baptist church on the northeast corner of East William and North Water Streets.