The History of Chicago St. Louis Academy Chicago (population: 2.8 million people) is the third largest city in the United States, located on the shores of Lake Michigan in northeastern Illinois. It was the fastest growing city in the US during the second half of the 19th Century, even with a great fire in 1871 that wiped out a good portion of the city, and by annexing numerous communities such as Woodlawn, Roseland, Englewood, Lake, Rogers Park, Humboldt Park, Forrestville, and Pilsen. Interstates 55, 57, 90, and 94 will take you to the city, along with other highways with state and US designations, train service, and air travel to/from O’Hare International Airport as well as Midway Airport, both of which serve many travelers daily. As the city grew, Chicago became a melting pot of cultures and people with countless nationalities showing representation in the “Windy City.” In doing so, neighborhoods were noted by the country were the immigrants came from. Those folks believed in education and started their own schools, some of which were taught in their native language or run by people that they knew and trusted.
St. Louis Academy for Girls were opened in the Roseland neighborhood on the city’s South Side in 1906 by the Sisters of the Congregation de Notre Dame in a four-story building that was opened in July of that year. The school was intended to be a day and boarding school for grade as well as high school students, but by 1909, the grade school was closed to accomodate a four-year college prep program for the high school students. A two-year commercial course was also started around the same time. The first graduates (two students) received their diplomas in 1910 as the school moved forward. St. Louis continued to serve female students on the South Side as the boarding ended in 1925 in order to create more classrooms and commercial courses were discontinued in 1935. Unfortunately, a 1959 building inspection found the school to be unsafe and forced the school to be closed for good. One hundred twenty-four students made up the last graduating class, with the remainder of the students transferring to Mercy or Mother of Sorrows High Schools. |
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