Photograph Album, Northern Illinois State Teachers College and Rural Schools, no date

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Homer Hall was born May 30, 1887 in Belvidere, Illinois, one of four sons born to Fred and Nellie (Bowen) Hall.  He graduated from Northern Illinois State Normal School in DeKalb in 1908.  He received his B.A. from the University of Illinois in 1912, and his M.A. from the same institution in 1913.  His masters thesis was on the “Influence of Kipling on American Literature.”  He undertook additional graduate work at Northwestern in Evanston, Illinois in 1938. Hall began his teaching career at Rockford High School in 1913-1914.  From there he was a professor of English at Kansas State Agricultural College from 1914 to 1916, and an associate professor at Oklahoma Agricultural & Mechanical College in 1917-1918.  For three months at the end of World War I in 1918 he was a member of the 161st Depot Brigade at Camp Grant in Rockford.  Hall then taught at Belvidere High School from 1918 to 1923, and was the Superintendent of Schools for Boone County from 1923 to 1929.  He came to Northern Illinois State Teachers College in 1929 where he served as the Supervisor of the Rural Training Schools and Rural Specialist in the Department of Education.  Hall retired from Northern September 1, 1955.      In addition to contributing numerous articles to educational magazines, Homer Hall also wrote for “Outdoor Illinois,” the Rockford Morning Star, and wrote columns for the Daily Chronicle (DeKalb) under the names of “Uncle Silas” and “Homer’s Hall of Ivy.”  A booklet titled “Flora Township in Boone County, 1838-1939" was written by Hall in 1973.  He belonged to both the National Education Association and the Illinois Education Association, and served as President of the Illinois Superintendent of Schools Association for over 25 years.  Following his retirement Hall belonged to the national and DeKalb chapters of the Retired Teachers Association, the Ellwood House Association, the DeKalb County Historical Society and the Boone County Historical Society. Homer Hall married Agnes Wollenberg of Belvidere in 1919.  They had four daughters: Bettie, Virginia, Josephine, and Janet.  He was a member of the First Lutheran Church.  Hall died September 25, 1975 at his home at 123 John Street in DeKalb, IL after a long illness.