University High School - U Highlights Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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If0!.XI. THE CORRELATOR 1914 As the character of the school became known, applicants for admission in- creased ii numoer, until it became necessary to refuse several hundred every year, notuithstandiig the enlargement of the building. This large number of appli- cants, so much greater than the capacity of the school, enabled it to select a choice body of pupils. but it was a painful duty to refuse admittance to so many boys, and the Director labored with the members of the City Board of Education and with others, until the English High and Nlanual Training School Cnow the R. T. Cranej was opened. Later, the Armour Institute was founded by NIL Philip D. Armour, a member of the Commercial Club, and a contributor to the NIanual Training School. Mr. Armour frequently said in public: If there had been no Chicago lVIanual Training School there would have been no Armour Institute. I-le thus recognized the inHuence of the school. In fact, the great work of the school has been, not the education of its pupils, but the education of public sentiment. hfany manual training schools were planned in the office of the old school building on hflichigan Avenue, and the existence of a great number can be traced directly to this school. As manual training schools multiplied in all parts of the country, the Commercial Cl.ib felt that the work for which the school had been organized had been accomp- lishzd, and in 1897 it offered the school as a gift to the University of Chicago, and the offer was accepted. This conviction of the Club is expressed in the fol- lowing quotation from the beautiful bronze tablet which commemorates the trans- fer of the schoole- That it has caused the establishment of many similar in- stitutions, and especially, that it has secured the incorporation of this system of education into the public schools of this city and of many othercities, is evidence to the founders of the school that it has successfully accomplished the purpose for which it was organized. The largest class graduated was in 1393, eighty-seven in number. Although the course of study extended oyer three years only, graduates were admitted to the Freshman classes of the best engineering schools of the country, such as: The hffassachusetts Institution of Technology ton examinationl, Cornell University, the Universities of Illinois, Michigan, lI'isconsin, etc. lon certihcatel Also, to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and other colleges. Frequently owing to pro- l U , at , a .1 NNN A I 'ing' , l. ,, 3 - I r, - yi ' I 1 rlititg. 1 I 16

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V05-XL INTRODUCTORY 1914 As the needs of the school grew, additional equipment wasfurnished. Money for the school was never refused. In a few years the school became self-supporting, as is shown by the fact that when, in 1897, the school was given by the Commer- cial Club to the University of Chicago, the John Crerar endowment fund had in- creased, by the addition of unexpected interest, from 850,000 to over ,856,o00. The names of the original Board of Trustees are as follows: MEMBERS E. W. BLATCHFORD, President W. A. FULLER, Secretary R. T. CRANE, Vice-President NIARSHALL FIELD, Treasurer JOHN CRERAR JOHN W. DOANE N. K. FAIRBANK EDSON KEITH GEORGE M. PULLMAN I hffessrs. Blatchford, Fuller and Field were continually re-elected to membership on the Board and to their respective offices, until the transfer of the school to the University. Nlr. Crane is the gentleman after whom the R. T. Crane Nlanual Training School is named. Nlr. Crerar bequeathed 550,000 to the school. The Chicago Nfanual Training School was the first independent manual train- ing high school in the country, the St. Louis school being a part of Washington University. From its inception the Chicago School stood for high scholarship, manual skill. and good character. The motto on its seal-.Mente argue' mana ad tfirtutevvz QThrough brain and hand to manhoodj expressed the thought of its founders. Admission was by examination only. Idlers and weaklings, if by any chance admitted, were promptly dismissed. Boys showing immoral tendencies were removed as soon as their true characters were revealed. The school was not a reform school nor an asylum for weak minded. Neither political nor personal infiuencegavailed in securing or retaining membership. The Hrst class, seventy-four in number, many of whom had finished part of a high school course, was admitted, as has been said, January 4, 1884. Twenty- seven of these seventy-four graduated June 24, 1886. Ft The first annual sermon was preached by Rev. Dr. S. NIcPherson, pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church, June 20, 1886. At the first annual exhibit June 23, 1886, was shown, among other products of the boys' skill, a steam engine built by the school. This 8 H. P. engine, exhibited in operation, was considered a marvel byi the fifteen hundred visitors, because it had been made by boys. It attracted far more attention than did any of the numerous horizontal and upright engines built by succeeding classes. . nwum:?lqu E I ' Q4 I :si .Q I 1- ' gil, -gffzsvfrsfi ,gt 'F E 'L ' it f e T I' az: 113.2 2.2.1 r ItTWtl!lUj' ll lj I' 'tllllfh .sRm FT'lll' 'llllllqflllllllwjllll ll l l I l '- . -Ml WW ll l l l 'I l l. . lll l ' I A fra, 1?-.if fl'lJ l I Ml Ill l - -fzfa, -'- 1-,. l'l.ill.14 'I la .lf if h h aff?-I2 F192 -1-T f 'T-T'iC'2-5 if 3 l TXSLTT FIRST ENGINE BUILT BY ANY HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN THE WORLD IS

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V01--YI' INTRODUCTORY 1914 ficiency in lvlathematics, Drawing and Shopwork, graduates completed a four years' engineering course in three years. About fifty per cent of the graduates entered college, the others going directly into business of various kinds. The alumni ofthe school are found in all honorable callings: Engineers-civil, mechanical, electrical-designers, contractors, merchants, manufacturers, lawyers, doctors, teachers, and 0115 cZe1'gy11m1z. They may be found in Canada, in lVIexico, in Europe, in South Africa. They wear the uniform of officers of the army and navy of the United States. Some of them smelled gunpowder in the Spanish war, on the Gregon and elsewhere. NOTE-The above sketch is quoted from a prospectus of the school, issued before the merger with the South Side Academy, and is from the pen of Dr. Belfleld. The Doctorf, as he was called familiarly by the boys, after two decades of service at the h'Ianual, was chosen as one of the deans of the University High School. Here he served till his retirement. His death occurred in IQI2. Last year in June memorial services were held in h-Iandel Hall and the tablet unveiled at that time can be seen at the west end of Henry Holmes Belheld Hall. It is the gift of the alumni of the Chicago Nfanual Training School. A. F. BARNARD. 01132 bnutb bibs Zltahemp A SKETCH The South Side Academy began its existance in 1892, in a building near fifty- fourth street and Ellis Avenue. It was founded as a private school by two gentle- men who had been teachers at Nlorgan Park Academy, Nlr. Smith and lVIr. Sisson. The school was afterwards moved to 5418 Greenwood Avenue, where in 1897 Pro- fessor YVilliam Bishop Owen of the University of Chicago, now principal of the Chicago Teacher's College, became Dean, continuing in that position until the school was merged in the University High School. Nfr. William E. Whaley was business manager. The Greenwood Avenue building, now a residence, was then a home-like place with a good yard containing large trees, under which one bench was placed. In those days Marshall Field extended eastward only to Greenwood Avenue, though that street was not graded or even marked out, and the present garden of the Home for Incurables was an open and empty lot. The common way from the University to the academy was by running along the old plank fence of Nlarshall Field, walking rapidly from there to fifty-fifth street, and thence proceed- ing with dignity to the school. Arriving there,except in winter, one was apt' to find someof the pupils talking sports under the trees, or scufliing for places on the bench. But the school, always vigorous, soon out grew the old quarters, and in the fall of 1899 was transferred to S447 Lexington Avenue Cnow Universityj to a building then entirely new, in spite of the medieval towers, and now an apartment house. The arrangement of the building was inevitably much like that of our own Kim- bark Hall. The two tower rooms on the first floor were devoted to the offices. The rest of the first floor, and all of the second, was given to recitation rooms, and all of the top floor but the tower rooms was an assembly hall, large enough to seat 17