Mount Prospect Historical Society

#wrap

HS Board

June Violet Muckle (nee Matthes)

Born: March 22, 1918

Died: May 16, 2008

Last Address: 4540 Bee Ridge Road; Sarasota, FL

JUNE VIOLET MUCKLE loved her family deeply and was the proud mother of Gary James Muckle (Mary Lynne Hertel) and Ellen June (John Vincent) Cavanaugh. After 43 years in Mount Prospect, June moved to Florida in 2002 to be closer to her daughter’s family, which included her three grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

June was born on March 22, 1918, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to parents Bertha H. Matthes (nee Dietrich) and Edward Edwin Matthes. She graduated from Milwaukee’s Washington High School and, on September 2, 1938, married Rev. James B. Muckle in Milwaukee at the Washington Park Presbyterian Church.

In 1959, the Muckles moved to Mount Prospect and June taught high school English at Maine West in Des Plaines for 19 years. In 1961, at the age of 43, June graduated from Lake Forest College, where she was a member of the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society. She then went on to complete her Masters degree at Northwestern University, earning over 90 hours. Her love of learning continued even after she graduated; June counted reading among her many hobbies.

In addition to her academic accomplishments, June enjoyed traveling, swimming, knitting, rosemaling (a form of Norwegian decorative flower painting), and gardening. Her daughter wrote that “June loved her garden” as well as her time at the Mount Prospect Historical Society. June was a member of the Mount Prospect Presbyterian Church and Delta Kappa Gamma, a professional honor society of women educators.

When she passed away on May 16, 2008, June was 90 years old.

Westbrook

School District: Built by Dist. 57, later leased to Northwest Suburban Special Education Organization

Grade levels: K-5

Built: 1961

Is it still standing? Yes

Is it still a school? Yes. District 57 took it back, did minor renovation, and now it is the district home of 1st grade and kindergarten.

History

Built in 1961, Westbrook was District 57’s third elementary school. In the mid 1990s, Following demographic and educational shifts in the community, District 57 decided to close the school and relocate the students to the newly constructed Lions Park and Fairview schools. In 1995 District 57 entered into an agreement with the Northwest Suburban Special Education Organization to lease the building for 10 years at a cost of $250,000 a year. The rent offset a $2 million renovation of the school and gave NSSEO space for a Behavior Education Center, the Orphanage Act Program, and a Technology Center. This move was met with strong opposition from neighbors of the schools, who worried about emotionally disturbed students in their neighborhood and were suspicious of the school’s security provisions. In 2003, District 57 began considering taking the school back to alleviate overcrowding in other schools. In the first two attempts, the referendum did not pass and the fate of Westbrook was still uncertain. Later, minor renovations were completed and now is the home of kindergarten and first grade for the District.

Sunset Park

School District: 57

Grade levels: K-6

Built: 1958

Is it still standing? No

If not, when was it demolished? Approx – 1985

Is it still a school? No, it is a baseball diamond

History

Sunset Park School was built at the height of the baby boom, when Mount Prospect’s student population was growing rapidly every year. In this era, Sunset was a well liked and remains a fondly remembered school. In 1971, Susan Liston, a first grade teacher at Sunset, was named Outstanding Young Educator of the Year. However, by the end of the 1970s many of the Baby Boom children had out grown the school 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 and 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.