S.J. Bonham was selected Principal of Niles High School
in 1926 and Niles City Schools Superintendant in 1933 through
1953. He became the assistant superintendant to primarily focus
on the passage of a school bond issue to build new schools in
anticipation of the influx of the baby-boomers. The bond issue
passed with a new Niles McKinley High School and two elementary
schools, Lincoln Elementary and S.J. Bonham Elementary were
built.
It was razed and a new intermediate school for grades 3-5 opened
in the Fall of 2013 on the same site.
In 2011, Niles residents approved a bond issue to build a new
high school for grades 9-12, a new intermediate school for grades
3-5, and a new primary school for students in grades K-2 grades
3-5. Built in 2005, grades 6-8 attend the middle school. Thus,
the concept of neighborhood schools is now past history in the
city of Niles.