HS Board

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.

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.

School District: Archdiocese of Chicago

Grade levels: K-8

Built: 1954

Is it still standing? Yes

Is it still a school? Yes

History

Founded in 1949 Saint Raymond’s Catholic Church was the first Catholic Parish in Mount Prospect and grew very rapidly in the 1950s. The church started out meeting in the basement of the Central School, which was at that time housing Saint John’s Episcopal Church. In the early 1950s the church decided to found a Catholic school for the growing parish. As the only Catholic School in the community it quickly filled beyond capacity. In the first years of its operation, students had a split schedule, in which some students would come in the morning and leave in the early afternoon while others would come in the afternoon and leave in the evening. This allowed the school to serve twice the student population it was built to house. In 1961 Saint Emily built a second Catholic school in the community and much of the burden was lessened. The school has continued to be a center for the Catholic community in Mount Prospect over the past 50 years.