The first brick Decatur school building was erected circa 1863, serving all grade levels from the village. The Decatur High School burned down in 1919 by a midnight fire, whose true cause was never determined. With support from the community and surrounding businesses, the school was able to rebuild in 1920 on the old site of the burned building. The new high school came to be known as the Bergen building, after ventriloquist and former resident Edgar Bergen. Eventually, a new high school was constructed, with the high school class of 1963 being the last to graduate from the Bergen building. Afterwards, the building was used for later elementary students until a new middle school was built, at which point the building housed an alternate education program until 2007. Since then, the Bergen building usually remains empty, though it sees occasional use of its gym when the district overschedules.