Bowen High School
2710 East 89th Street
Main Entrance to Bowen High School
James
H. Bowen High School is the oldest school in the South Chicago
area.
Named after James H. Bowen, “The Father of South Chicago”, it was
originally
located at 93rd and Houston Avenue as Bowen School. Built in
1876,
it served children of the elementary grade levels and four rooms were
allocated
for high school work. Bowen School developed into the South Chicago
High
School, which later developed into the present day Bowen High
School.
In 1910,
a new building was built at 2710 E. 89th Street, but the older school
building
was not closed. It was used as a branch until approximately 1960
when it was eventually closed and later taken down. Now the site is a
parking
lot across the street of the South Chicago Fire Station serving as a
parking
lot for a local bank. Officially named James H. Bowen Public High
School, the current building
was built for an enrollment of 1,400, but by the mid-1930s its student
body numbered 4,600 because of the influx of Polish, Slavic, and other
immigrants into South Chicago. Because of its overcapacity, in
1969,
a new gymnasium and an addition was added with 30 classrooms, 4 large
study
halls, and a two story library.
The Bowen
building
has architectural significance because of its strong resemblance to
Carl
Schurz High School, a landmark building on Chicago's North Side.
Both of these buildings were designed by the architect, Dwight Perkins,
who was a Prairie school contemporary of Frank Lloyd Wright.
As South Chicago
grew, Bowen came to be one of the finest high schools in the South
Chicago
area. By the 1950s and 1960s Bowen continued with its tradition
of
academic excellence. In 1965, 73% of the senior class went on to
college. Bowen's academic standing is not quite at the level that it
was
at in the 1950s and 60s, but it is presently in a period of
intervention,
in which officials are working to bring Bowen back to its past academic
excellence.
Click on the links at the left to tour
South Chicago Schools.
