HS Board

Name of Building or Business: Central Standard School

School District: 57

Grade Levels: K-8

Built: 1927

Demolished: 1975

What is currently at that address: The Mount Prospect Public Library

The Second Central School or the Central Standard School is one of the best remembered schools in Mount Prospect. It was built in 1927 and at the time was a great leap forward. Mount Prospect went from having one classroom for the entire town to having five: four new classrooms plus the original one-room Central School building. There were a number of additions to the Central Standard School, the first of which was built in 1937. Over time, the additions to the school became larger than the original school. With the boom of students in the 1950s and then the drop in enrollment in the 1970s, many of the schools in Mount Prospect faced insufficient enrollment. In the 1970s and 80s Mount Prospect’s schools were faced with rapidly falling enrollment, and many schools were closed, sold, or demolished. The Central Standard School went from teaching K-8 students to becoming a Junior High, just teaching 7th and 8th graders. Central School closed in spring 1970. In 1975 the Central Standard School, with all of its additions, was razed. Today the Main Branch of the Mount Prospect Public Library stands in its place.

Name of Building or Business: Busse School

Built: 1956

Demolished: 1994

What is currently at that address: Busse Park

The Busse School was a definite product of the Baby Boom in Mount Prospect; it stood at the intersection of Owen and Henry Streets and was built in 1956. With the heights of the boom came the depths of the bust and with shifting demographic trends, School District 57 faced declining enrollment through the 1970s which forced them to close many schools. By 1982, the school district was forced to close the Busse School, although there was a large public outcry. For many the closing of Busse School was seen as the end of an era of neighborhood schools. When the building came down, a number of alumni of the school commented on it being last school in the community where the parents could see the school from their front porch and the children could go home for lunch in nice weather. In 1987 School District 57 sold the building to the Mount Prospect Park District, who rented the building out to a number of different organizations and then in 1994 demolished it to construct Busse Park.

Name of Building or Business:  Busse Flowers Greenhouses

Built: 1916

Demolished: 1986

What is currently at that address:  Townhouses

Busse Flowers is the longest running business in Mount Prospect. It is all retail today, although it started out in 1916 as a greenhouse company. Mount Prospect was a largely rural village until the 1950s and many of the residents worked on farms or in agricultural fields. One of the biggest products of Mount Prospect was flowers. Other than Busse Flowers, there was also Kellen Brothers Greenhouses, Homeyer Greenhouses, and Haberkamp Greenhouses. Over the years the property became more valuable as residential property and all the greenhouses were closed. In 1986 Busse Flowers sold its greenhouses to the Village as a part of a TIF District development and became a strictly retail establishment.