Harvard Boys High School - Review Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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ALUMNINOTES f FOREWORD The material for these Alumni Notes has been gathered over a period of eighteen months. During this tirne, innumerable personal letters, cards, blanks, and form letters have been sent out, hundreds of personal messages have been added to form letters, and many alumni and friends have been called upon for help. The response has been excellent. Not more than a dozen letters have been returned for want of a correct address: and the majority of blanks have been promptly returned, properly filled out, and frequently accompanied by additional information and pleasant personal messages. The latter have greatly added to the pleasure of the work. We could hardly get over our school-teacher habit of putting the old boys in their places. Those who did as they were asked were mentally marked satisfactory7 but if they added a friendly or interesting rnessage, they were given A or A+. The ones who didn't answer, and even kept the stamped and addressed envelope which had been provided, were flunked quite heartlessly. There are, however, few of these. Messrs. Charles H. Hamill, Arthur Meeker, Daniel I. Schuyler, Clarence Huling, Shirley High and Iohn I. Bryant were particu- larly helpful in locating lost boys of their respective times: and we are deeply indebted to Mrs. lohn Walsh, who proved a mine of useful information. By the time the work was concluded, we rnust admit that in regard to alumni We heartily echoed the sentiments of the little girl mentioned by Iune Provines, who after studying penguins at school, wrote in her report: I have learned rnore about penguins than I care to know. The records of the school were not kept accurately before 1880, which represents the first class graduating under Mr. Schobinger's regime, nor was a catalogue or student-roll kept. Therefore, although this is the seventy-fifth anniversary number of the Review, the notes will cover only the sixty years from l88O to l94O. What conclusions, if any, can be drawn from this survey of Harvard School boys over a period of sixty years, in relation to school, college, and private or business life? One striking fact is the ever increasing tendency of Harvard School boys to obtain the greater part of their preparatory education here, and to com- plete their high school work with us. In looking over the attendance records of the past twenty-five years, we find very many boys who have spent ten, eleven or twelve years in the school. ln a recent graduating class of fifteen, eight had had their entire education with us. A Ten Year Club would have a large membership. This was not the case in the early years, and up to about 1920, when many boys went East to Exeter, Andover, Hill, St. Mark's or St. Paul's for their junior and senior years. Now many boys come from other schools to spend their last two years at Harvard and, in very many cases, to take a postgraduate year before entering college. For the past fifteen years we have never been without one or two postgraduates. PAGE 17

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blow when the University of Chicago opened the University High School. At that time at least thirty or forty pupils went in a body to the new school. lt is of course always difficult for an unendowed school to compete in physical equipment with schools backed either by taxes or by tremendous financial resources. The fact that the Harvard School has been able to do so success- fully is significant. The year 1905 marked also the death of one of Hcfrvard's best friends, a member of its board of trustees,-William Rainey Harper, presi- dent of the University of Chicago. Since 1896 the school has been in the Kenwood district, from 1898 until 1906 in the Gossage house, set far back from Lake Park Avenue and 47th Street in a huge lot, with a large playground adjoining: then at the northeast corner of 47th Street and Drexel Boulevard, and finally in the new home built for it in 1917 by means of a loan raised by friends and alumni. The campaign for the necessary 55120000 loan was undertaken singlehanded by Mr. Scho- binger in his seventieth year. The first big boost for the fund was given by I. Ogden Armour, whose business was then in the flush of war expansion: he offered ten thousand dollars to start the ball rolling. lt was during this time that Mr. Schobinger felt his life work rewarded by the kindness and generous interest of his many old boys who wished to see the school in a permanent home. ln the course of years, the Harvard School absorbed several other prepara- tory schools in the neighborhood and became the preeminent boys' day school of the South Side. ln 1912 an able and enthusiastic young man became associated with the school as a teacher of the classics. Mr. Schobinger was so impressed with his ability that some years later he asked him to assume greater responsi- bilities, and in 1919 Mr. Pence became co-principal with him. ln 1925, due to the disabilities of age, Mr. Schobinger became principal emeritus, and Miss Schobinger assistant principal. Upon her father's death in 1927, she assumed the duties of full principal together with Mr. Pence, an arrangement that is still in force. The school has weathered many storms in the course of seventy-five years. lt has passed through depressionsgthat of 1873, the financial crisis of 1893, the panic of 1907, the war, 1914-1918, and this final long depression of 1929 to 1939. lt has passed through tragedies far worse than panic and depression, but has held up its head proudly, confident in the knowledge that its name and honor have remained unsmirched. We feel that the Harvard School for Boys would not have stood the test of time if it had not contributed something worth while to the city and its development: and so we bespeak the con- tinued support of the community, the alumni, and the school body. Now again the school building has become too small. During the past twenty years the importance of physical development has been more and more emphasized, and the growth of the school demands more elbow room. Our present gymnasium is too small to accommodate our many play teams, large and small. Once before, when the school was farther north, a gymna- sium was built on the east end of the lot. That is exactly what we plan to do now, with the help of friends and alumni, and thus fitly celebrate the seventy- fifth anniversary of Chicago's oldest private school. PAGE 16

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Another striking fact is the wider spread of the school population, made possible by the development of good roads and automobile transportation. ln former days the school drew from a purely local field: now it draws not only frorn Kenwood and Hyde Park, but also from the South Shore district: and about thirty-five Beverly Hill Billies make the trip each day. For several years we had three boys from Palos Park, two from East Chicago, one from La Grange, and one from Evanston. One Beverly family has the travel record, for the two Hanney boys have together covered approximately 75,000 miles going back and forth to school, with 9,000 miles to go before they finish. In regard to choice of college and the shift away from the East several factors have been at work, chief among them the development of good mid- western schools like the University of Chicago and the state-owned univer- sities of Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois. ln the last ten years, of course, economic changes have been the predominant factor in the drop of registra- tion in Eastern colleges. ln compiling statistics we have compared the first twenty-five years from l880-l905 with the second twenty-five years from i905-1930, and have considered the third group, l930-40 separately. ln the first group twenty-two American colleges and universities are repre- sented, plus several European ones-the Beaux-Arts in Paris, the Universities of Munich, Leipzig and Oxford. Yale takes a preponderant first place, with an attendance of 3951 of our men: Harvard is second with l5Wy Chicago ranks third, with 9'Wp and Massachusetts lnstitute of Technology and Princeton tie for fourth, with 576. After them come Cornell, Dartmouth and Northwestern Clsawl. Seventeen per cent did not go to college. The second group includes thirty American colleges, with two European ones-the Beaux-Arts and the University of Grenoble. Yale still holds first place, but has slipped to 20752: Chicago has crept up to second place with l8'Z25 Harvard is third, with 872: Dartmouth, Michigan and illinois tie for fourth, with 6156765 then come Wis- consin, Pennsylvania CWharton Schooll, Alabama, Princeton and Cornell. Six per cent did not go to college. ln the depression group, registration for Eastern colleges stops with the suddenness of the crash itself, and Chicago jumps easily to first place with 40'W. Eleven per cent did not go to college, and the colleges represented show greater extension in geographical distri- bution as well as in number. Of the thirty-seven colleges, many appear for the first, or almost the first time, among them Beloit, Carleton, Lawrence, Hobart, Hamilton, Kenyon, Oberlin, N. Carolina, S. Dakota, Iowa and Car- negie. Of the Eastern colleges, Dartmouth, Massachusettes Institute, Harvard, Amherst, Cornell, Brown, and U. S. Naval Academy are still represented, but in small numbersp and Yale has disappeared. During the last fifteen years, Dartmouth has been the favorite eastern college. Of our 20 boys attend- ing Dartmouth during this time, five have won Phi Beta Kappa honors. Our most recent M. l. T. man last year ranked among the first five of the Freshman class. Of our two men now at Harvard, one has won scholastic honors and is on the football teamg both entered on honor scholarships. We find that our alumni live in twenty-eight states of the Union, plus Canada and Hawaii, and in four foreign countries,-France, England, ltaly and Egypt. Their occupations cover the whole field of business and professional life, and include, besides the more obvious ones, those of editor, publisher, interior decorator, industrial designer, oil geologist, brewmaster, chemist, tanner, trapper, rancher, artist and writer, with one bishop and one judge. In listing their occupations in order of frequency, we have lumped under finance bankers, brokers, auditors, estate managers, trustees, investment counsels and dealers in securities: under Fine Arts, architects, interior decorators, composers, artists, writers, and editors. Education includes teachers and PAGE 18