The History of Oak Park and River Forest High School covers the history of Oak Park and River Forest High School, located in Oak Park, Illinois, United States, from 1871 to the present.
History Nineteenth century Starting in 1871, high school students from Oak Park attended classes in an elementary school. The first class, which contained only three people, graduated in 1877. As early as 1875, there was discussion about constructing a high school in Oak Park.
In June 1889, the school board announced that a site on Lake Street between Euclid and East Avenues had been selected for the new high school. Construction began in the spring of 1890. The school was designed by the firm of Thomas & Rapp, and built for an initial cost of US$40,000. The school, Oak Park-Ridgeland High School, was opened for public inspection on the afternoon of January 1, 1892.
The building was designed for kindergarten and grades 5–12. Among the features of the building was a state-of-the-art ventilation system that changed the air in the entire building once every six minutes. The basement held industrial arts shops, and the third floor held the gymnasium, science labs, and cooking and sewing rooms.
The 15-member graduating class of 1894, grouped according to course work in "Classical", "Latin", or "Modern language", received a graduation address from John M. Coulter, then serving as president of Lake Forest University. - Clipping at Newspapers.com.
In 1899, the tuition charged to residents of River Forest and Maywood was raised, prompting the students from those towns to move their students to the recently completed Austin High School in Chicago. - Clipping at Newspapers.com.
1901–1920 By 1904, the towns decided a new high school building was needed."Decide Oak Park School Site Today"; Chicago Daily Tribune (1872-1963); February 27, 1904; ProQuest Historical Newspapers Chicago Tribune (1849 - 1986), ProQuest. Web; p. 9; accessed 5 August 2009 - Clipping at Newspapers.com. In December 1904, the location at East and Ontario Streets was selected by voters.VOTERS SELECT SCHOOL SITE: Oak Park Election Fixes Choice of East and Ontario Streets for $160,000 Building; Chicago Daily Tribune (1872-1963); December 4, 1904; ProQuest Historical Newspapers Chicago Tribune (1849 - 1986), ProQuest. Web; accessed 6 August 2009 - Clipping at Newspapers.com.
The original school site was sold in 1916 for $25,000. - Clipping at Newspapers.com
A new building, designed to hold 800 students, was opened in 1907 in the school's current location; however, by 1908, the school was declared defective and required additional work, with the concrete floors specifically cited as being unable to support the full weight of potential people that might stand on it. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. The school eventually filed suit against the contractors. - Clipping at Newspapers.com.
For many years, students at the school had formed fraternities and sororities. In the wake of a student's near death during an initiation in 1907, the community's citizens began to ask for the secret organizations to be disbanded. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. In the summer of 1907, school officials formally informed parents of the school's opposition to these groups, and that parents should be wary about permitting students to join these groups. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. As school started in 1908, the school opted to require all students (unless parents were opposed) to sign an oath not to join any secret societies. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. With the pledges sent out, the secret societies were effectively banned at the school, though not without a fight. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. The adult sponsor of one fraternity (on whose property the fraternity's house was located) decided to defend the system. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. It soon became clear that the fight was between representatives of the "old guard" of Oak Park which favored the societies, and newer families who were against them. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. Even as the last sororities submitted to signing the oath, the fraternities held out hope that they and their parents would prevail. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. While continued existence of the fraternities was tolerated for a time, by early 1909, the last remaining members were expelled when they failed to comply with the oaths they had signed. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. After the last fraternity engaged the services of an attorney to defend themselves, the attorney informed the members and their families that the school was within its rights, leading the last holdouts to renounce their membership and rejoin the school community. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. Problems with secret societies continued sporadically into 1911, when students were again given the choice of renouncing membership in the groups or face expulsion. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. Nine students were ultimately expelled. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. Four of these boys applied to attend one of the public schools in Chicago, and were rejected. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. One of the nine students was eventually reinstated by a judge, who openly called these secret societies "enemies of the state and foes of our Christian civilization". - Clipping at Newspapers.com. Expulsions over the offense continued in 1915, though with the added twist of several girls gaining the support of Mrs. Catherine Wright, the wife of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. In 1916, parents supportive of secret societies attempted to get elected to the school board, but failed when the leadership withdrew from the election. - Clipping at Newspapers.com.
1908 saw approval for the expansion of the athletic facilities with five new tennis courts, a new quarter-mile cinder track, and outdoor basketball courts. - Clipping at Newspapers.com.
On January 16, 1914, the school opened its new field house, which ranked among the largest indoor athletic facilities for a secondary school in the country, including a one-fourteenth-of-a-mile indoor track. - Clipping at Newspapers.com.
During 1916 and 1917, Ernest Hemingway was a contributor to the school newspaper and literary magazine. Several of these works were collected in Hemingway at Oak Park High: The High School Writings of Ernest Hemingway, 1916-1917. Among these works was a short story, A Matter of Colour, which appears to be a prequel to his later short story The Killers, explaining the reason for the action in that story. - ProQuest linkSee also:
1921–1940 On September 27, 1924 OPRF dedicated its new athletic stadium with a celebration that included a 13–0 win in football over Austin High School. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. - Clipping at Newspapers.com.
The fight against secret societies among students again raised its head. In May 1926, the school issued one-year suspensions to 53 students under the claim that their Sunday school classes served as a front for fraternity membership. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. The boys filed suit against the school claiming that they did not know they would be punished so strongly, with one prominent parent claiming the school was acting to erase its image as an "athletic" school. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. When the boys won the case, they arrived at school to gain admittance, only to see the superintendent cancel classes so that students could attend a "clean alleys" parade. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. Upon appeal, the judge reversed his initial ruling, and denied the boys' lawsuit. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. Despite missing graduation for some students, the remaining students continued to appeal throughout the summer. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. On September 4, the parties arrived at a compromise where graduates would receive their diplomas, underclassmen would return to class, though students would be barred from extracurricular activities, and would be required to help root out secret societies. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. Parents who had started a petition drive against the principal were also required to destroy the petitions.
November 1927 saw the announcement of new construction. The first to be completed was a new gymnasium for girls and a fieldhouse for boys, including a dirt floor and an indoor track. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. Images of new buildings at Newspapers.com. One report stated that the school would thus have "the largest and most complete high school athletic layout in the world". These facilities, costing $750,000 were ready in August 1928. - Clipping at Newspapers.com.
OPRF routinely hosted community lecture events and several charitable fundraisers that attracted notable people. On the evening of November 9, 1936, the school hosted a talk by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. - Clipping at Newspapers.com.
On October 14, 1940, the school hosted the exiled Archduke Felix of Austria for a talk. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. On October 22, 1940, the school hosted Cornelia Otis Skinner, who presented some costumed monologues at the school as a part of a fundraiser for the local infant welfare society. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. A benefit concert at the school on November 8, 1940 featured violinist Efrem Zimbalist. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. January 22, 1941 saw a lecture by polar explorer Rear Admiral Richard Byrd. - Clipping at Newspapers.com.
1941–1960 With the outbreak of World War II, OPRF opened its doors to a University of Illinois sponsored war industries college to educate men and women in skills needed to perform in necessary industries. - Clipping at Newspapers.com.
At least as early as 1940, interest was shown in opening a second high school for the town of River Forest. - Clipping at Newspapers.com In 1946, approval was given for River Forest to form its own high school district. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. By 1949, River Forest was still a separate district, but had not begun to build a high school, forcing the district to pay tuition for each student still attending Oak Park High School. - Clipping of first and of second page at Newspapers.com. In late May 1949, petitions were presented asking for a referendum to reunite the two districts, with the county superintendent announcing that the reunited school district would officially become Consolidated High School District 200 when the vote from both districts favored reunification. - Clippings of first and of second page at Newspapers.com. The successful election resulted in the call for the election of a new school board. - Clipping at Newspapers.com.
The 1940s saw still more lecturers and performers come to the school for various functions. October 12, 1942 saw a talk on "Liberty vs. Oppression" by Ève Curie, the daughter and biographer of Marie Curie. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. Carmen Amaya and her band of dancers performed October 16, 1942. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. Soprano Helen Jepson performed on March 24, 1944. - Clipping of first and of second page at Newspapers.com. Actress Ilka Chase gave a talk on April 21, 1944. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. October 11, 1944 saw a performance by magician Harlan Tarbell. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. Hypnotist and "mind reader" Dr. Franz Polgar was the entertainment at the school on April 25, 1945. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. In March 1946, the school hosted a two-day conference to discuss the future of the Soviet Union in world affairs which was chaired by William McGovern and Maynard C. Krueger. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. Eugene List performed on piano on October 29, 1946. - Clipping at Newspapers.com. Will Durant, philosopher and historian, gave a lecture on October 17, 1949. - Clipping at Newspapers.com.