Park Ridge Youth Campus

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Illinois Industrial School for Girls
two brick buildings visible at different angles through trees; a walking path crosses in front
Two of the campus buildings in 2011
Location733 North Prospect Avenue
Park Ridge, Illinois
Websitewww.prparks.org/prospect-park
NRHP reference No.98000978

The Park Ridge Youth Campus, or just The Youth Campus, was a school and orphanage in Park Ridge, Illinois from 1908 to 2012. The campus is on the National Register of Historic Places as the Illinois Industrial School for Girls, and was also known as the Park Ridge School for Girls. The campus is now Prospect Park and owned by the Park Ridge Park District.

History[]

Evanston[]

The Youth Campus traced its foundation to 1877 as the Industrial School for Girls[1] in what was then South Evanston, Illinois.[2]: 3  The organization received its charter on January 9 and opened on November 1 in a building formerly used as a soldiers' home, with 5 acres (2.0 ha) of land. It was the first such school for girls in Illinois.[2]: 3  In 1879, Illinois General Assembly passed a general law to allow industrial schools for girls,[2]: 1  and on October 1, 1879, the school reorganized with a corporate charter under the new law. An 1882 lawsuit challenged the constitutionality of such schools in Illinois, but the court ruled in favor of the school's existence, judging it to be "of the same character" as the power of parens patriae already in the common law, and that the school was not a prison and committing a child to the school was not imprisonment.[2]: 3 

After some complaints of mismanagement in 1894 and 1895, Illinois governor John P. Altgeld attempted to discharge all 105 girls, but they refused to leave.[2]: 4 

As early as 1903 there were calls to move and reorganize the school on the "cottage plan": for example by a T.H. MacQuerary, of the Chicago Parental School, in the American Journal of Sociology.[2]: 4 

In 1906, a scandal over placement of some girls into poor homes, and the mismanagement of money, caused a change in leadership.[3][4][5][6] After the directors were reorganized, Jane Addams served on the school's board of directors.[1][6]

In early 1907, the Board of Directors announced that they planned to leave Evanston and relocate to a new rural location in Park Ridge.[7] With 125 girls and mounting financial difficulties, the school arranged for a charity baseball game that included a semi-professional team run by Cap Anson to be played at West Side Park.[8][9]

Park Ridge[]

The facility was relocated to Park Ridge in 1908 and renamed the Park Ridge School for Girls in 1913.[1]

Several of the buildings were funded by Julius Rosenwald, and were designed by Holabird & Roche, the same firm which designed the Chicago Board of Trade Building and Soldier Field.[1] Eight of the campus buildings are contributing elements of the campus' listing on the National Register of Historic Places.[1]

When boys were first admitted in 1980, the facility was renamed the Park Ridge Youth Campus, before being simply renamed The Youth Campus in the 1990s.[1]

By the 2011 the school services were being provided by Maine Township High School District 207.[1]

Solomon Cottage in 2012

After school[]

The Youth Campus closed in the summer of 2012. The organization merged into the existing Chicago not-for-profit organization Children's Home + Aid.[10]

The campus itself was split into parcels,[11] with plans to sell the north part, approximately 60%, to Mark Elliott Corporation for housing development, and the south part, approximately 40%, to the Park Ridge Recreation and Park District for $6.4 million.[12] The Park District voters approved a referendum in April 2013 for a $13.2 million bond for the purchase and conversion to a park.[13] The Park District's property was re-opened as Prospect Park in May 2016.[14]

Except for Emery Cottage, Solomon Cottage, and Wohlers Hall, the Park District had the campus buildings torn down in March 2015;[15] in exchange for allowing demolition, the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency required that the demolished buildings be recorded with architectural details, that Solomon Cottage and Wohlers Hall be restored, and that Emery Cottage also remain preserved.[16] The Solomon Cottage, built in 1908,[14] was leased on a long-term basis to the Park Ridge Historical Society in 2016,[17] and renovated in 2017 to become the historical society's Park Ridge History Center.[18]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g "Welcome to the Youth Campus School". History. Park Ridge, Illinois: Maine Township High School District 207. Archived from the original on 2012-10-29. Retrieved 2019-03-17. Also Archived 7 August 2011 at archive.today.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f "Schools for Dependent, Delinquent, and Truant Children in Illinois". American Journal of Sociology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 9 (1): 3–5. July 1903. doi:10.1086/211192.
  3. ^ "EVANSTON SCHOOL IS HIT.; WOMEN ATTACK INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTION FOR GIRLS. Girls Serve as Drudges. Wants Records of Servants.", Chicago Daily Tribune, p. 3, 28 January 1906, The Evanston Industrial School for Girls, its management and its methods, were subjected to a scorching attack yesterday ... As a result of the meeting, an effort will be made to force a reorganization managing board ...
  4. ^ "COUNTY TO AID OF GIRLS.; BOARD ORDERS INVESTIGATION OF INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL. Can't Ignore Grave Charges. Reports Are Published Seldom.", Chicago Daily Tribune, p. 4, 30 January 1906, President Brundage and the Cook county commissioners took a hand yesterday in the factional fight which has broken out in the directorate of the Illinois Industrial School for Girls at Evanston by appointing a committee of five to investigate the charges of extravagance and incompetency ...
  5. ^ "NEW ERA IN GIRLS' SCHOOL; OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS MUST HAND IN RESIGNATIONS.", Chicago Daily Tribune, p. 7, 20 February 1906, Every director and officer of the Evanston Industrial School for Girls will be called upon to resign as a result of investigation made by the committee appointed a few weeks ago by the board of county commissioners.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b "DELINQUENT GIRLS TO FARE BETTER.; Changes in the Industrial School at Evanston Follow Brundage's Threat. NEW DIRECTORS CHOSEN. Promise Made of Improving Conditions Which Called for Many Protests. some of the New Directors. Change Made in Superintendent.", Chicago Daily Tribune, p. 7, 26 October 1906, Promise of new life under a regime entirely different from that which caused President E.J. Brundage of the county board to threaten the withdrawal of the dependent children from the Illinois Industrial School for Girls at Evanston was seen in the personnel of the directorate and the executive committee chosen for the institution yesterday ... The following names were given as those certain to take their places as directors ... Miss Jane Addams ...
  7. ^ "WANTS FARM FOR GIRLS.; EVANSTON INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL IS CONDEMNED BY DIRECTOR. Mrs. Hannah G. Solomon, in an Address to the Women's Guild of St. Peter's Church, Outlines Her Plan for Disposing of That Institution and Providing Model Cottages in the Country for Dependent Female Children--Assails Former Board. Assails the Former Board. Would Bar Out Delinquents. Wants Cottages for Girls.", Chicago Daily Tribune, p. 16, 19 January 1907, A model farm school for dependent girls where they may live in cottages and grow healthy in the open country ... is the institution planned ... to take the place of the Evanston Industrial School for Girls ... she explained that arrangements would be made early in February to dispose of the Evanston property and establish a well equipped farm in the country, possibly at Park Ridge.
  8. ^ ".GAME TO AID GIRLS' SCHOOL.; Anson's Colts and the Gunthers to Play for Benefit of Industrial Institution at Evanston.", Chicago Daily Tribune, p. 6, 24 June 1907, The Illinois Industrial School for Girls at Evanston is to have a "baseball benefit" ... The game will be played by "Cap" Anson's Colts and the Gunthers July 17 at west side ball park.
  9. ^ "ANSONS WIN BUSSE CUP FROM GUNTHERS IN CHARITY GAME.; Receipts of Yesterday's Semi-Pro Ball Contest Will Reach $4,000--To Enrich Evanston Girls' School.", Chicago Daily Tribune, p. 8, 18 July 1907
  10. ^ "Dear Friends of The Youth Campus". Park Ridge, Illinois: The Youth Campus. 2012-07-02. Archived from the original on 2013-05-14. Retrieved 2019-03-17.
  11. ^ Branham, John (July 12, 2011). "Site Plan Review for New Community Residences, Zoning Cases: SP-11-02, SP-11-03, and SP-11-04: 804, 808, and 812 North Washington Avenue" (PDF) (PDF). Letter to Planning and Zoning Commission. Retrieved 2019-03-17. All three properties formerly belonged to the Park Ridge Youth Campus. A subdivision and map amendment was approved in 2005 to divide the properties into three separate lots
  12. ^ Adlaf, Paul (July 2012). "Presidents Report". The Lamppost Newsletters. Park Ridge, Illinois: Park Ridge Historical Society. Retrieved 2019-03-17.
  13. ^ Bullington, Jonathan (April 16, 2013). "Park Ridge Park District plans next steps after voters OK buying Youth Campus". Park Ridge Herald-Advocate (online ed.). Archived from the original on 2019-03-17. Retrieved 2019-03-17.
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b "Prospect Park". Park Ridge, Illinois: Park Ridge Park District. Retrieved 2019-03-17.
  15. ^ Johnson, Jennifer (2015-03-13). "Tear-downs to start at Park Ridge's Prospect Park; paddle tennis nixed". Park Ridge Herald-Advocate (online ed.). Retrieved 2019-03-17.
  16. ^ Davis, Jon (2015-01-22). "New park at Park Ridge's Youth Campus gets early approval". Park Ridge Herald-Advocate (online ed.). Retrieved 2019-03-17.
  17. ^ "About the Historical Society". Park Ridge, Illinois: Park Ridge Historical Society. 2017-05-22. Retrieved 2019-03-17.
  18. ^ "The Solomon Cottage: Home of the Park Ridge History Center". Park Ridge, Illinois: Park Ridge Historical Society. 2017-12-07. Retrieved 2019-03-17.

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