Harbor Elementary School

Harbor Elementary School began with the formation of the neighborhood of Harbor in northwest Linelin in the 1920s. Prior to 1933, the area of Harbor was only partially within the Linelin city limits, and thus was not provided much in the way of education. Harbor had been established as a small town by general store owner and later circuit judge John H. Harbord (1845-1920) in the 1880s. A post office was established at the intersection of W 22nd and Smith St (now Harbor Blvd) in 1901, but was gone by 1916. In the 1920s, the Harbord Homes development was platted on the edge of the Linelin City by businessman B. Elmer Bly (1877-1963).

The Harbord Homes became the location for a community of craftsman homes, mainly inhabited by the families of workers in the shipyards along the Harbor area's riverfront. During the Great Depression, the Harbor area saw surprising growth as a affordable area of Linelin with plentiful empty land, yet was still connected to the city via the Harbor Blvd streetcar and later bus line. During WW2 the area became even more developed, with both public and private housing being constructed to fill up the Harbor neighborhood, now fully incorporated into Linelin city. The "Harbord" name of the neighborhood was also shortened to just "Harbor" around this time.

Immediately after the war the area became home to large-scale post-war housing development and saw the construction of as many as 1,500 new residences. Also as Linelin entered the 1950s, the school-age population of Harbor, especially young children, began to rapidly increase. Most children had to travel along, by bike or by bus, the busy Harbor Blvd to Greene St, where they could attend the Lucius Luther Grade School, which was built in 1912, and was quickly becoming over-crowded. A small catholic school was run out of St Paul's Church in the Harbor area as well, eventually becoming St Paul School. Kids then attended Woodrow Wilson High School, constructed in 1952 to meet growing housing demands. It was as early as 1950 that a proposal was made in the the school board of Linelin City School District (LCSD) to construct a school for the Harbor neighborhood. In 1953, preliminary planning began for construction of a "Harbor Elementary School". Several sites were considered, yet the one decided on was adjacent to Bly Park, on a fairly sparse city block. Five homes were razed for the construction.

Architects Kienow & Roberts were hired to construct the new school. Assuming the the school would be of a smaller size, they planned for the school to only serve a maximum of about 200 students. The building was designed as one long and shorter one intersecting it, with classrooms on either side and two courtyards towards the center. The building was designed in the international style, with a distinctive jagged roofline. On the width side of the building, the roof sloped inward towards a central axis. On either side of the length-sides of the building were large, glass entryways which offered much light into the school.

Construction began in January of 1959, with the school opening by September of 1960. A paved play area was laid out by the next summer. Small additions were made over the years. A steel, covered play area was built in the 1970s and a single portable classroom was added around the same time. Though considered a comparatively expensive and state-of-the-art school when built in 1960, by the 2000s the school had become increasingly run down. Little money was circulating in the Harbor area to improve the school, and LCSD was having trouble with funding its schools. The school completely shut down for one year, 2008-09, then reopened, but shut down again in 2012. The school remained shuttered until 2017 when it was completely redone with the interior gutted and replaced. The outside, 1960s look of the school did remain, however.