Calumet High School - Temulac Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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small logs surfaced on the upper side by hand with an ax, its laths were also made by hand. lt was named to show its distance from the Chicago River along the old indian trail, Vin- cennes Trace fAvenueJ, over which goods were transported by pony pack to Vincennes, lndi- ana. Some of it was shortly rerouted over the State Road fStreetJ to avoid the worst of the marshland. Old timers tell of how a man on horseback could reach down and dip up drink- ing water in some low places. Later the Ten Mile I-louse was referred to as the Farmers' Tavern because the truck farmers stopped there overnight on the way to Chicago, usually the Twenty-second Street market, with their produce. lt did a thriving business until the railroads superseded the horse and wagon trade. However, it had been abandoned by this time, and was offered Cal for housing its overflow. ln l897 the front of the building was added and some changes were made in the old part. Six years later a section was added to the south end, after which the building compared favorably with other high schools. As the population of the city increased, new high schools were established and the district of Calumet High School was reduced repeatedly. The districts of Morgan Park, Fen- ger, Bowen, Parker, and Lindblom were taken in part or entirely from the original Calumet district. In l922 there were over 4,000 high school pupils residing in the original district, but those attending Calumet were less than 600. Most of the territory surrounding the school was a low level prairie covered by endless fields of wild flowers. Until 1905 when drain- age devices and sewers were installed, heavy rainfalls brought severe floods and occasion- ally the school board declared a holiday. ln the winter it was possible to ice skate from 79th and Vincennes all the way to Lake Calumet, and in the spring you could go duck hunting along the old drainage ditch at 91st and Racine where water from the spring rains stood six inches to three feet deep, making excellent feeding swamps for the migrating birds. Very often following heavy rains the boys would play on the board side walks along 79th street using them as rafts. Despite all the additions to the school, how- ever, and the 530,000 worth of new equipment bought in 1913, the old building became in- creasingly inadequate and finally the grammar school was forced to move into portables erected in the school yard. Attendance soared to even greater heights as soon as the people heard that the Board was planning a new school building, and the old school was soon overcrowded by about 350 extra students. Mr. Grant Beebe, the second principal of Calumet, decided that the rapidly growing community of Auburn Park needed a modern, well equipped high school building. Appealing to the Board of Education, Mr. Beebe received

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retired in 1935, Miss McKinley dedicated her- self to the school, making the welfare of thousands of students her life. After she left, it was necessary to find a dozen teachers to take over her work as Dean of Girls, senior counsellor, sponsor of the Senior Girls' Coun- cil, vocational counsellor, scholarship counsel- lor, welfare worker, securing aid for children with physical defects, and clothing, equip- ment, carfare and lunches for needy children, Miss Victoria Adams, history teacher at Cal from 1895 to 1921, upon her retirement gave the school library 500 history reference books, which she had collected as reviewer for the American Historical Society. Upon her death Miss Adams, a descendent of Pres. Iohn Adams, established a trust fund of 585,000 to finance scholarships to the University of Chicago for Calumet students majoring in history. Although Cal's student body was small in number, they were taking many honors. Prob- ably the most notable achievement was made in later years by Dr. Frank Smithies, who was awarded the French Cross of the Legion of Honor for his work in the field of asthma. The third floor was finished off and con- verted into an assembly hall. lt was but a short time until classes, Cone of which might be a music classl had to be held in the four corners of the hall. Additions were continually being added to the building, however, making its stu- dent capacity larger, Many pupils required from an hour to an hour and a half to reach school, traveling in unheated horse cars with only a layer of straw on the floor to keep their feet warm and walking nearly a mile across the prairie. So in 1899, a branch was opened at 117th and Clark at the Curtis Clfengerl School. But the students didn't like being isolated from the main school so the Board rented the Ten Mile House just back of Calumet and used it as a branch for freshmen. Built in 1837, the year Chicago received its charter, on land ob- tained directly frorn the government as a fed- eral land grant, the Ten Mile House was the oldest building in the community. lts sills were

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permission to start planning the new building. After long months of careful preparation, he submitted tentative floor plan sketches made by the schools mechanical drawing depart- ment for a building which would meet the re- quirements of the district. After being carefully examined, these plans were accepted as the basis of the school which We are now in. The district southwest of 79th and Halsted was not built up until after World War l. Even though the last of the Hollander truck farmers sold his land about l908, real estate companies and individuals alike held their property, hop- ing that prices would go up. ln the early '20's, two sub-divisions-Chester Highlands and Chester Highlands Flats-were opened up. The five years between l923-28 saw one of the most amazing building programs ever wit- nessed in Chicago - whole blocks of bunga- lows and two-flats went up almost simultane- ously from Green to Damen. And along with the new homes, the new high school building was erected at 8 lst and May. ln the fall of l926, it was not quite ready for occupancy but the freshman divisions moved in and classes were held while the car- penters and electricians finished the interior. lt was a bleak, dull day in November of l926 when the remainder of Calumet's 800 pupils tramped the mile between the old and the new school. Arms loaded with books, drawing boards, sports equipment and as much of their belongings as they could carry, they presented an unforgettable picture, trudging to occupy their new and beautiful school. Not only did the district grow rapidly but students from all over the south side sought permission to attend. By Tune l933 Calumet enrolled 4700 students, a 550 79 increase since moving into the new building. Fully half of these students were housed in one room port- ables which crowded the court and filled the athletic field. With their coal stoves and cor- rugated iron roofs they were anything but com- fortable. Following the economy reorganization by the Board of Education, students were required to attend school in their own districts, and Calumet opened in September with ll00 fewer students than when the school closed in Tune. Old Calumet tWestcottl was used as a branch and Calumet's 26 portables were soon re- moved, World War ll changed Cal's history again. She sent l,954 alumni and students to war, of whom 95 did not return. At home the enroll- ment dropped, and in September '42 the branch was closed and its students and teachers were moved to the main building. Until l9ll4 the school was on a double shift with the shops running an extra period, 8:00-4:25. At that time the enrollment dropped to such an extent that the school could go back on single schedule. At present Calumet's enrollment is about 2,500, the number for which the building was originally planned. COMPOSITE I-IGROSCOPE AS wAs POPULAR IN THE EARLY TEMULACS LEWIS EIUGER EONA OLSON LHEINLEINJ NILDRED BECKER CRAHNJ EVELYNLARSENCRAPKA A DOROTHY TULNERINUELLE v DARLENE SPENCER X DISCOVERED WAY TO MOON GOVERNMENT SERVICE DRESS DESIGNER TEACHER AT CALUMET GYM INSTRUCTOR RANCH OWNER LANGUAGE TEACHER HAS GONE TO JA RAN SQIENTIOT JOHN BOYLE KM? NURSE IN CHINA HNETTE WASKAIHAIESTROMT v COACH .AT CALUNET GEORGE BOYLE 'QM LOST UOGCONRANION HELEN VALENTINE CDAVIDGE RIANIGT ETHEL IVIEALIEF I CHORUS GIRL MARGARET ROBERTSON G XWEALTRY EARLIER RUBY EREMONT qw HELEN R WE '- Q sit EI Ir NIRIAM MOORE IROBERTS MOVIE ACTRESO V 'U DOROTHY GORDON iw- A It