ALTON - The Alton public schools began serving milk and graham crackers to undernourished students (as determined by student weight) on Monday, October 19, 1925. Mrs. Daisy Creswick Rice, health supervisor for the schools, had just completed the fall student health assessments and encouraged all underweight pupils to take the opportunity for a mid-morning meal served at 10 a.m. at all buildings. The cost to the students was 4 cents per day for a half-pint of milk and two graham crackers, but arrangements were made (as in previous years) to provide the meal for free to students who could not afford it otherwise.
Rice said that “experience of the past few years has shown that the serving of milk has been of great benefit, and has had marked results. Teachers are very enthusiastic over the plan for supplementary nourishment because they find that the morning lunch increases the working power of the pupils, and tends to improve their class work as well as benefit them physically.” She also noted that “underweight pupils belong to no single class – they come from homes of both well-to-do and needy families.”
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
In connection with the plan for supplementary nourishment, all students were weighed three times a year to check results – at the beginning of the school year, in December, and in April. An article in the Alton Evening Telegraph the following June announced that Rice’s annual report showed a notable improvement in the physical condition of grade school students. “Serving of a mid-morning lunch of milk and graham crackers to pupils is given by Mrs. Rice as the chief source of improvement in the physical condition of the pupils.”
The milk and crackers program in the Alton public schools began in 1921. The Junior Red Cross raised funds by selling Christmas seals. By 1924, the milk fund was self-sustaining. An Alton Evening Telegraph article in 1929 mentioned an arrangement reached with the dairies and cracker manufacturers: for every four bottles of milk purchased, a half-pint was given free, and crackers were secured similarly.
Today, students in Alton public schools and across the country benefit from the National School Lunch Program, which was signed into law by President Harry S. Truman in 1946. This program provides low-cost or free meals to students through subsidies to schools. In fiscal year 2024, the program provided more than 4.8 billion lunches to children in the United States. The National School Lunch Program (which also includes the School Breakfast Program) is funded by the USDA and implemented in Illinois by the Illinois State Board of Education.
Sources
“2364 Pupils Underweight Report Says.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), November 20, 1925.
“Begin Serving Milk in Public Schools Oct. 19.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), October 5, 1925.
“Child Nutrition Programs - National School Lunch Program.” U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, 2025.https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/child-nutrition-programs/national-school-lunch-program
“High School to be Accredited for Two Years.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), October 16, 1925.
“Milk - for health, good teeth, vitality, endurance, strong bones.” WPA Art Program, 1940. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-USZC2-1086.https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/98518818/
“Milk Served to Underweight of School Pupils.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), July 15, 1924.
“Nutrition.” Illinois State Board of Education, 2025.https://www.isbe.net/Pages/Nutrition-and-Wellness.aspx
“Nutrition is Given Pupils with Anemia.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), May 13, 1921.
“Report Shows Pupil Health Improvement.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), June 5, 1926.
“Serve Milk to 1000 Pupils in Public Schools.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), October 17, 1925.
“Serve Milk to Pupils in School.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), October 14, 1929.
