Background: A lower school classroom.
While teachers' salaries also were cut
as Latin tightened its belt, the school's
faculty never had to endure the scrips
that their colleagues were receiving in the
public schools.
In 1931, Latin parent Edward Cudahy
made a $50,000 gift to the school in his wife's
name to provide an emergency fund that
allowed it to avoid bankruptcy. Throughout
the remainder of the decade and into the
1940s, Latin struggled financially, coming
close to bankruptcy a number of times.
When James A. Wood came on as
headmaster for the boys school in 1933,
Latin's sustainability was clearly at the top
of his mind.
"The standards of academic training
at the Chicago Latin School have always
been set high and will naturally remain as
such; as was the case with so many other
schools, our immediate question was one
of finance," Wood wrote in 1938. "Under
the able guidance of Mr. W. W. Dixon, who
was president of our board of trustees, a
new bond holders agreement was arranged
and carried through. It was at this time that
Mr. Edward L. Cudahy established the Nora
Brewer Cudahy Memorial Fund of $50,000
in memory of his late wife. It was a most
appropriate tribute, for Mrs. Cudahy was
keenly interested in the school and was one
of its most loyal supporters. Our Executive
Board at this time, composed of W. W.
Dixon, John R. Winterbotham, E. L. Cudahy,
Clarence T. Seipp, and William R. Carney,
Financial statement from 1929.
Lower school boys.
LATI N SCHOOL OF CHI CA GO
39
