Biggest Chicago Public High School (Open or Closed)


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Biggest Chicago Public High School (Open or Closed)
Posted by: Cragin Spring ()
Date: July 29, 2015 11:25PM

Not to get away from the "Forgotten * topic. But this was brought up since I was a kid with my dad and uncles.Now I hear it come up now in conversation. "What is the biggest Chicago Public High School in square footage? Whether it be open or closed. What comes to mind is Lane, Senn,Chicago Vocational, Carter Harrison, Gage Park, Tilden and I'm sure there are more that are big I'm not looking for a exact answer because the list has to be close. I'm just looking for a opinion . Thanks

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Re: Biggest Chicago Public High School (Open or Closed)
Posted by: SWEDE ()
Date: July 30, 2015 12:06AM

Maybe Limblom or Kelly.

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Re: Biggest Chicago Public High School (Open or Closed)
Date: July 30, 2015 12:13AM

[b]CVS[/b]

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Re: Biggest Chicago Public High School (Open or Closed)
Posted by: Mornac ()
Date: July 30, 2015 10:39AM

Popular lore has always said that Lane Tech is the largest.

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Re: Biggest Chicago Public High School (Open or Closed)
Posted by: the_mogra ()
Date: July 30, 2015 12:20PM

when I went to LTHS in the '60s the school enrollment was said to be 5400-5500 students total. classrooms were full and no more. I think my graduating class was 1028

one byproduct was that--unlike other high school classes--chances were you didn't know even half of your classmates for that year. the Classmates.com website regularly informs me when somebody new joins from my graduating class but unfortunately it's usually meaningless, even if accurate I never knew those guys. just too many

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Re: Biggest Chicago Public High School (Open or Closed)
Posted by: SWEDE ()
Date: July 30, 2015 01:22PM

Harper on the southside also comes to mind.

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Re: Biggest Chicago Public High School (Open or Closed)
Posted by: ambrosemario ()
Date: July 30, 2015 03:15PM

Enrollment wise, I think Lane Tech holds the crown ( 1950s - early 1970s), but from s sheer size standpoint I believe it's CVS by a wide margin.

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Re: Biggest Chicago Public High School (Open or Closed)
Posted by: gman ()
Date: July 31, 2015 06:44PM

According to Lane's history page they had 7,000 students by 1930 (and although there's a reference to 9,000 by 1934, it's unclear as to whether those were enrolled students):

http://www.lanetech.org/history.php



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/2015 06:45PM by gman.

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Re: Biggest Chicago Public High School (Open or Closed)
Posted by: the_mogra ()
Date: July 31, 2015 07:03PM

the 2501 w. Addison building (BTW is it Addison st or ave, inquiring alumni want to know?) opened in 1935 (student lore has always had it built on the site of a garbage dump) and pre-1935 Lane was @ division & sedgewick or what later became Cooley High which was smaller.

to hold 7,000 students there'd have to be more daily class schedule shifts I think. standard when I attended was 1-9 periods but 2-10 also existed primarily for freshmen. we also had 0 (zero) period @7:10am, and for all I know there also might've been a 3-11 period schedule

you have never witnessed the most orderly textbook filled frenzy until you've seen thousands of LTHS student bodies get to their next assigned class in 4 minutes total time (what we had allotted between periods) from one far corner of Lane Tech way over to the other plus up/down up to 4 floors (after sitting on a hair trigger hearing the bell ring)



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/2015 07:07PM by the_mogra.

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Re: Biggest Chicago Public High School (Open or Closed)
Date: August 04, 2015 02:07AM

Wasn't BOgan pretty big in the 1960's?

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Re: Biggest Chicago Public High School (Open or Closed)
Posted by: jdiazsr ()
Date: August 12, 2015 03:31AM

In 1966 I graduated from Murray F. Tuley HS ( shortly before the new Roberto Clemente HS was built, we had over 7ooo students and building stood on one whole city block; no everyone could afford to go to LTHS !

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Re: Biggest Chicago Public High School (Open or Closed)
Posted by: the_mogra ()
Date: August 12, 2015 12:28PM

Lane Tech, at least back then, accepted students north of an arbitrary Chicago street, like Madison or Roosevelt (I'm not exactly sure which) if your grades (in 8th gr. for example) were high enough--it wasn't an issue of fees or finances (except maybe the attending student had more CTA busfare to pay). The old Tuley H.S. building still stands @ Potomac & Claremont now as Jose de Diego elementary CPS. My late father graduated from Tuley in 1939 and I visited there in the '60s myself, and that 7000 student figure seems quite voluminous considering the huge LTHS campus is at 5500 typical enrollment

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Re: Biggest Chicago Public High School (Open or Closed)
Posted by: Anonymous User ()
Date: September 15, 2015 02:33AM

Harrison Tech and Austin High School were pretty large. I went to Taft which was relatively small.

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Re: Biggest Chicago Public High School (Open or Closed)
Posted by: SWEDE ()
Date: September 29, 2015 12:48AM

I remember seeing CVS when we rode the "L". It was atleast four seperate buildings.

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Re: Biggest Chicago Public High School (Open or Closed)
Posted by: Mr Downtown ()
Date: September 29, 2015 11:17AM

CVS isn't visible from any L line.

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Re: Biggest Chicago Public High School (Open or Closed)
Posted by: SWEDE ()
Date: September 29, 2015 12:49PM

Was it visable from the expressway?

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Re: Biggest Chicago Public High School (Open or Closed)
Posted by: thimmaker ()
Date: September 29, 2015 05:58PM

I started Lane in 1947 and graduated in Jan. of 1951 and at the time I started they listed near 6000 at the school. If I remember correctly I started with about 1800 freshman. My graduating class was the smallest class to ever graduate from Lane, at 225 students.(just checked my yearbook) They did a lot of transferring during those years and many boundary changes.
Geo.

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Re: Biggest Chicago Public High School (Open or Closed)
Posted by: Jeff_Weiner ()
Date: January 30, 2016 03:12AM

Btt.

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