Latin School of Chicago

125th Anniversary Timeline

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Celebrating 125 years. Our Stories. Our School. 1880-1889 1890-1899 1900-1909 For 125 years Latin School of Chicago has been setting standards for academic excellence in the City of Chicago. The school has grown from 10 young boys attending to their studies in a private home under the tutelage of Mabel Slade Vickery, to one that serves more than 1,100 students from throughout the city and its suburbs. While our faces and facilities have changed over the years, Latin's goals have remained much the same: to provide young people with exceptional educational opportunities in an environment that fosters a life-long love of learning. Latin School opens 1910-1919 1907 The first class of girls, which includes six students, graduates. The girls excel on the College Entrance Exam. Two score a record 100 percent on the math portion while a third receives a prize at Bryn Mawr College for the best entrance exam result in the West. 1920-1929 Robert Peck Bates retires and a group of boys school parents secure non-profit status for The Latin School Association. They form the first board of trustees, making the division a parent-owned school again. 1913 Mabel Slade Vickery opens the Girls Latin School at 59 E. Scott Street. 1914 Latin School first opens its doors on October 6 in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Eliphalet Blatchford at 375 N. LaSalle Avenue. 1894 Mabel Slade Vickery hires Robert Peck Bates to assist her with running the growing school and moves classes into a small house at Division Street and Astor. Robert Peck Bates, headmaster of the boys school Miss Schill, the first full-time gym teacher for the girls, forms the Walking Club at the girls school. Students walk from the Scott Street building to Municipal Pier or Lincoln Park Zoo. There is an annual overnight trip to Oconomowoc, Wisconsin for those who earn enough miles. Becomes independent 1899 Portrait of Mabel Slade Vickery by the artist Frank O. Salisbury of London, commissioned by the Alumnae Association in 1929. Latin becomes an independent school when Mabel Slade Vickery and Robert Peck Bates take over ownership from the parents and incorporate it as the Chicago Latin School. They move into a property at 18-20 E. Division Street and Vickery begins teaching a small number of girls in the primary division. 1906 The first school song is written and nd orange and blue become Latin's official colors. 1923 The Alumnae Association is formed at the girls school. (The boys school never had an official alumni association.) 1920s sophomore class Latin's football team wins the private school league championship Football team outside the fieldhouse at Kersey Coates Reed campus. 1930 After the passing of trustee Kersey Coates Reed, Mrs. Reed and Mrs. Charles Schweppe (his sister) make a memorial gift to the school that allows Latin to purchase land at Addison and California that is named the Kersey Coates Reed Campus. This becomes the home to Latin's athletics program for the next 29 years, and is considered one of the top athletic facilities in the city at the time. Vickery retires 1929 Mabel Slade Vickery retires after 41 years and sells the girls school to the parent group. Vickery is featured in the book of Chicago history Chicago and Its Makers which states "The high standards set by her 41 years of teaching have become a tradition in the lives of a large number of Chicago's most worthy citizens." 1940-1949 1945 1926 Girls school opens 1888 1930-1939 In the 40s and 50s Latin's football team was a powerhouse. The dog show remained a popular school event through the early 1960s. 1931 Tuition is $225 for kindergarten and parents of seniors are billed $630 for the year. 1937 The annual dog show is launched by the junior class of the girls school. Nancy Davis stars 1939 Latin student Nancy Davis (the future Mrs. Ronald Reagan) stars in the girls school production of First Lady.

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