Dear SuburbTalk readers: This is the lates in a series of stories written by Jon Gardner, Assistant Curator of the Arlington Heights Historical Museum. Each month, he will preview a new display at the museum. This month, the museum celebrates the life and career of Theodore Militzer, whose passion to further education in Arlington Heights, led to the establishment of High School District 214.
“It was a rainy day and the unpaved roads made transportation by horse and buggy quite difficult. In spite of this, mothers and pupils spent the day working to bring voters to the polls.”
Theodore Militzer
That’s how Theodore Militzer recalled the day in 1914 when Township District 214 was voted into existence. What felt in the moment like the culmination of years of hard work to create the high school, turned out to be the beginning of the fight.
Already contentious, many opposed the notion of public education on principle. But what set the vote in March 1914 apart was that for the first time in Arlington Heights history, women participated, a full five years before the ratification of the 19th Amendment, and just one year after Illinois passed the Women’s Suffrage Act.
The opposition seized on this to invalidate the narrow results — the vote passed by a mere 16 ballots — and a seven-year court battle ensued until the Illinois Supreme Court ruled in 1921 that the women’s votes were indeed valid. One year later, in 1922, Arlington Heights High School officially opened its doors.
The son of a teacher, education was in Theodore’s blood. By the time of the 1914 vote, his father, Fredrick Militzer, had been teaching at St. Peter’s Lutheran Parochial School for more than 40 years. After graduating college in 1896, Theodore came back to Arlington Heights to build on his father’s work.
Campbell Street in downtown Arlington Heights, circa 1914
A professional pianist and music teacher, Theodore drove the creation of District 214 and getting the referendum on the ballot. Undaunted by the attempts to invalidate the referendum’s results, Theodore doggedly led the defense all the way to the Illinois Supreme Court, committed to his vision of Arlington Heights education.
Even after winning, he would not take it easy, spending 18 of the 24 years — between 1914 and 1938 — as school board president, plus five more years as president of the Illinois Music Teachers Association.
This month at the museum, we are celebrating the life and career of Theodore Militzer in gift shop’s display case. Highlights include his school board gavel, his recollections of the day of the vote and his father’s German-language teacher’s handbook from 1870. We invite you to stop by and learn a bit more about Theodore.
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