Morgan Park Military Academy - Skirmisher Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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Bob remarked, lt you will go out to Morgan Park with me, l'll show you the only hill in this vicinity. Upon arrival l learned that his chief interest was calling upon the Academy librarian. ln those days the central section of what is now the enlarged public library was Academy property. While Bob visited l wandered about the campus. Blake Hall was then in its youth. Directly across 111th Street, then Morgan Avenue, was Morgan Hall, a great rambling brick dormitory. lts main entrance was just beyond the two elm trees, some Fifty Feet north of the gates to Abells Field. The Academy laboratory, where l latertaught chemistry and physics, stood on the area now occupied by the east goal posts. ln approxi- mately 1910 the laboratory was moved across Hoyne Avenue and converted into the apart- ment building north of the library. At the same time Morgan Hall was taken down. These three buildings housed the Baptist Theological Seminary from 1873 to 1892. South ot112thStreet, called Rinaldo Avenue, Park Hall was erected in 1873. It was located on the site of our gymnasium and served as the barracks of the old Morgan Park Military Academy. Previous to my First visit the drill hall ot the military school was wrecked. It was situated where West Hall is. ln 1892 the new University had taken over all the Morgan Park property and converted the two institutions into a coeducational academy f ' .1 9 E K xi , ' I I r .ww N. 41 1, I I . . .vmviw -uv'-'fs Vg ,, . - s we W . which it conducted. as an integral department ol the University. Park Hall was the girls' dormitory, Morgan Hall was For the boys. The next vivid memory l have of the Academy was in the early spring of 1894. One Sunday evening President Harper of the University was called out of a meeting over which he was presiding. When he returned he reported that Park Hall of the Academy had burned to the ground. He told us that the fire was discovered while the girls were at supper. They lost their clothes and other possessions. ln the emergency Morgan Hall was divided into two sections- one was occupied by the boys, the other by the coeds. During the following three years l visited the Academy occasionally. Sometimes l attended a Y. M. C. A. meeting. More often we of the University baseball team gave help to the Academy team. ln the fall ol 1897 l had Sunday dinner in the Morgan Hall dining hall with Fred Nichols and his bride. ,LAW

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A History of Morgan Park Military Academy IT was Away bacic when in 1893 that i first visited Morgan Paric. A month before i had enroiied at the University of Chicago, a friend Bob Hughes icnew i was homesick for my native mountains. He had attended the Academy the previous summer.

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Fred was one ot the all time 'igreatsi' of the University baseball and football teams. He came to Morgan Park in 1897 to teach English and coach athletics. Harry Abells arrived in 1898. Another Famous player on the Chicago '96 and '97 champions joined his teammates in 1899, Haydn E. jones. ln this period the University of Chicago erected the three buildings on the south campus. 2,2 7751? Tv K . i - q 10 West Hall was built in 1897. Col. jones became head of this dormitory. East Hall was constructed in 1898. Mrs. Abells and l had rooms 8 and 9. The dining hall for East and West students was in the south division. The Lower School classrooms now have this space. The lcitchen was situated in the present loclcer room. The gymnasium was erected in 1900. The trees on either side oi the wallt leading from 112th Street to the gymnasium formed the entrance to Parlc Hall in the old days. Morgan Park became a military school in 1907. The third building period was twenty years later. Alumni Hall was given as a memorial to the cadets of World War lf Hansen Hall, named in honor of C. Hansen: the first vice- president of the Academy Board oi Trustees and Father of four sons, all of whom are Morgan Park graduates, was constructed in 1928. The fourth period for adding to the Academy buildings awaits the end of World War ll. The first will be the Victory Memorial for academic purposes. It will be built directly south of Alumni Hall. ' It has been a privilege for iorty-seven years to share in the service Morgan Parlc has rendered its boys, and through them to our country. I-lorry D. Abe-Ils.