Joliet Junior College - Shield Yearbook (Joliet, IL)

Page 12 text:

HIGH SCHOOL-1923— SHOWING IH I-: K ( )I.l ' rii X ( IF THH joi.ii-r ' i( i xsHii ' hi ;h school win t.luti W li 111 It Chaiie Dar- , and the oiil ' ru.iscni lir iliiln ' l rnnsidrr llu ' miraculous ivoluiion i)f iinr .ureal sysUiii in- lcad of sonic of ih( c fossilized Icpidoptera or iclineuiii- onnUu was because the poor fellow gave up till slruy-gle for existence in 1882, jnsl when llial sy-.teiii was cnierginsf from its earliest pri)li pla mic state Perhaps you had never thought that in its varied stages of development and improvement our own high school might be compared to some great and magnificint example of tiie Iilaiil or animal kingdom, but it is thoroughly feasilile To compare il In some stately pine or liemlock would aflford a delightful display of a fertile imagination, but to satisfy the vanity of that liighly developed species of the animal kingdom, called niaii. it might be more pleasing to liken cuir iiislilntion and its growth to the structure .ind development of one of his closer relatives. Even in this enlightened age, there are some periods in the history of all prominent institutions which present a dark, somewhat hazy existence in the past and about which very little is definitely known. Such is the case witli tlie Joliet High School from 185S lo 1874 when the first class, consisting of ihrec girls, was graduated and when llie high sclioid classes were tatight, at times in the old KasUrn Avenue school and again, in rooms over tlu- old Cagwin Bank on Jefferson Street. From 1874-1879 neither graduates nor commencements are recorded, but since 1879, each year has witnessed a successfnl hi.gh school commencement in Jnliel. By 1882, the need for a high school Iniild- ing was voiced and soon met hv the erection of the old building on Chicago Street It was on the uiiper floor of lli.at Imilding that for some I en years the higli school classes were conducted. The old feeling of rivalry between the east side and the west side, still prevalent among some of our older residents, gave rise to ;i high school buildin.g west of the river in 1887, where the name West Side Hi.gh School was deeply cut in stone upon the front wall. There it still stands today, but its function as a high school long ago succtimbed to the law of the survival of the fittest and has lallen to the lowly state of a grammar school, taking on the less pretentious name of Broad- way School. F.ven as early as 1892, a proposition for a township Iiigh school was submitted, but the

Page 11 text:

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! i!J Original Buij-Oing lLdjiiJRfl » 1 -i3r EASTERN AVENUE ELEVATION time did not seem ripe till almost seven years later when the high school had crowded the grade pupils out of the building on Chicago Street and even utilized the halls and ward- robes for class rooms. A state law passed shortly before that time, regarding the es- tablishing of township high schools, reguired a petition signed by fifty or more citizens to submit the question. A petition was duly drafted, submitted, and Siigned by the requi- Siite number and filed on February 21, 1899. Several months later as a result of the deci- sive vote of 2,725 to 329, the Joliet Township High School district was declared established. Shortly afterward, the citizens of Joliet so generously authorized several successive bond issuesi to insure the selection and purchase of a hiigh school site and the erection of a suit- able building upon it that the present high school building was completed and dedicated on April 4, 1901. That building, characterized by Andrew S. Draper, President of the Illinois University as the finest high school building in Amer- ica, was at that time justly considered to be a super-structure. With its marvelous ar- rangement of laboratories, assembly hall, library, and museum, it was the pride of the community. The wonderful breathing appa- ratus or ventilating system and the spacious arteries or corridors of thiis herculean pet of the public were current topics of discussion, but to us who know it better much is amus- ing. We cannot imagine an office barely larger than Dr. Smith ' s private sanctuary, especially on a Monday morning after a Friday after- noon ' s ditching escapade. Neither could we very readily become accustomed to a gymnasium of a size of old 329, then called the Basket-ball room. We should certainly like to have seen it or the Juniors ' or Seniors ' room, both being designed to accommodate ALL of both classes or the auditorium which with! balcony seats comfortably 1500 people. We prefer not to meditate on their idea of being- seated comfortably. Certain, it is, that the seating capacity lacks that number by at least five hundred. In ten years, the high school liad increased its enrollment from little more than 125 to almost 600 and had more than doubled its teaching force. No sooner was the new building complete than its growth multiplied by great leaps and bounds, so that five years later the student enrollment had grown to 1000 and the faculty to thirty-eight. This growth was so marvelously rapid that in 1915 it necessitated the erection of an ad- dition on Herkimer Street almost half the