School District: 57
Grade levels: K-8
Built: 1956
Is it still standing? No
If not, when was it demolished? 1994
History:
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.
