Eastland High School formed after the consolidation of Lanark High School and Shannon High School in 1987. Surrounding communities that may have had high schools previous to Lanark and Shannon were consolidated into those high schools after the State of
Illinois mandated that larger school districts be created in 1949. The current school was originally built as Lanark High School and was completed in the winter of 1951 with an addition of four rooms for junior high students being added on prior to the fall of 1957. The mascot for Lanark High School was the Beavers and the school colors were Royal Blue and White. Besides grades 9-12, the current building also houses grades 7 and 8. As for the former Shannon High School, it also was built in 1951, the mascot was the Eagles and school colors were Orange and Black. The building in Shannon currently houses the district elementary school as well as sixth grade students. After a considerable amount of time was spent trying to create the perfect link between the two schools it was decided that maintaining a color from each school would help keep some history alive for both communities, Orange from Shannon and Royal Blue from Lanark. The following timeline details the improvements that the district has completed: • 1998 - Additional classrooms added to the high school • 2007 - New cafeteria and art classroom are added to the building • 2010 - A 36,345-square-foot addition was added to the building including a state-of-the-art gymnasium/fitness center/weight room; conversion of the existing weight room/fitness center to an agriculture classroom; upgrading the renovation of an existing classroom to a wood-finishing room; modifications to the existing gymnasium to better support the performing arts; and HVAC improvements. ==References==