HS Board

Demolished: 1985

What is currently at that address: Sunset Park

Sunset Park School was built at the height of the baby boom, when Mount Prospect’s student population was growing rapidly every year. School District 57 built a new school every other year in the 1950s, but by the end of the 1970s many of the Baby Boom children had outgrown the schools like Sunset Park and the student population dramatically declined. In 1979 School District 57 put the building up for sale with an asking price of $900,000. However, the presence of asbestos and the lack of bidders caused the school to lower the price to $750,000. There were still no bidders for the site, until the Mount Prospect Park District approached them with an offer of $500,000 for the land without the building. After negotiations, the land was eventually sold for $600,000 in 1985 and the school was demolished.

Built: 1913

What is currently at that address: School Yard

As the German immigrant community developed into the community of Mount Prospect, one of the early important developments was the founding of Saint Paul Lutheran Church. The founding of this church signified a shift from the exclusive community centered on the farms to a more outward looking town focused on the train station and connections to other communities. The charter for Saint Paul was signed in 1912 and this building was dedicated in 1913. This was one of the most beautiful churches ever built in Mount Prospect and was a truly classic design. With the growing population, Saint Paul needed to expand. Rather than expand the existing church, they built a new one and, perhaps more tragically, rather than finding an alternate use for the building, such as renting to a smaller church group, using as offices or converting to a residence, it was demolished. Nothing has ever been built on the site.

Name of Building or Business: Prospect Theater

Address: Main Street

Built: 1950

What is currently at that address: Condos

The Prospect Theater was once a center in the community. It was a classic one screen theater with a location to which hundreds of families could walk. It opened in 1950 and was big deal in a small town like Mount Prospect. This was the first real theater to open in the community and it was a sign of the community’s development. It opened the day after Christmas with Tea For Two, starring Doris Day and Gordon MacRae and Copper Canyon starring Ray Milland and Hedy Lemarr. When the Prospect Theater opened, it was the heyday of downtown theaters. Before the development of huge multiplex theaters on the outskirts of towns, the downtown theater was a mainstay of local entertainment and social life. However, with increased developments along the periphery of towns, the one screen theaters had a hard time competing with much larger theaters that were located outside of town, but had more parking. Over the years, the Prospect Theater was surpassed by these larger theaters and was not maintained. The distinctive marquee and awning were taken down when Route 83 was widened and by the time it was demolished the theater did not look like a center for local community life.