Dr. C. T. Vivian Primary School

Dr. C.T. Vivian Primary, formerly known as Thomas Jefferson Primary, on Florence Avenue had eleven classrooms when it opened in 1949. It was formally dedicated in April 1950 to mark the birth date of its namesake, a portrait of whom was donated by the Peoria Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. It originally had 9 classrooms. The cost of the building was $400,000. In 1949-1950 the gym, offices, and boiler room were added. Thomas Jefferson School was the first elementary school to be built since 1937. It was the first one story school in Peoria. There were 227 pupils in the new school with Mr. Fred King as principal. Five years later, a six room expansion was still not enough to handle the population explosion in what was northern Peoria in 1960. The west wing was added in 1959. Four additional classrooms were added to this wing in 1968. In 1970-71 the special education wing and cafeteria was built. The latest additions to Thomas Jefferson School occurred in 1991 with the building of five classrooms, a conference room, rest rooms and a teachers' lounge. At the same time the cafeteria and office area was remodeled.

The original Jefferson School was two Swiss cottages built in 1882 at the corner of Jefferson and Mary streets. Though it reopened after an 1893 fire that destroyed two barns and killed two horses, it was closed in 1898.