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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3Representatives are pleased to congratulate the
4administration, teachers, and students of James Harvey Bowen
5High School in Chicago on the occasion of the school's 100th
6anniversary; and
 
7    WHEREAS, The James Harvey Bowen High School now enters its
8second century of providing a facility for the young citizens
9of South Chicago to obtain a quality education; and
 
10    WHEREAS, Named after a young entrepreneur, founder of the
11Calumet and Chicago Canal and Dock Company, and chairman of the
12Republican State Central Committee at the time of President
13Abraham Lincoln's assassination, James Harvey Bowen High
14School's current building was built in 1910 to replace the old
15structure on 93rd and Houston Avenue that was built as an
16elementary school in 1876; the building opened with 14 students
17enrolled in a one-room class; the structure was eventually
18enlarged to serve children of all elementary grade levels and
19four rooms were allocated for high school work; the building
20then served as a branch until 1960 and was subsequently razed;
21and
 
22    WHEREAS, Designed by famed school architect Dwight

 

 

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1Perkins, a Prairie School contemporary of Frank Lloyd Wright,
2Bowen High School's current building was built for an
3enrollment of 1,400; by the mid-1930s, however, its student
4body had burgeoned to 4,600 due to the migration of Polish,
5Slavic, and other immigrants into South Chicago; in 1970, a new
6gymnasium, 30 new classrooms, four large study halls, and a
7two-story library were erected; and
 
8    WHEREAS, As the population of South Chicago grew, Bowen
9High School came to be considered one of the city's finest high
10schools; throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the Bowen tradition of
11academic excellence continued; by 1965, 73% of the senior class
12went on to college; as a cultural and education institution
13serving today's youth under the auspices of the Chicago High
14School Redesign Initiative, Bowen was divided into four "small
15schools" in 2002: the Chicago Discovery Academy, BEST or the
16Bowen Environmental Studies Team, the Global Visions Academy,
17and the New Millennium School of Health; these four
18"schools-within-a-school" are funded by the Chicago Board of
19Education and receive additional support from the Bill and
20Melanie Gates Foundation; each small school has an enrollment
21of about 400 students, is staffed by certified teachers, and
22has its own principal; and
 
23    WHEREAS, Bowen High School graduates have influenced the
24arts, industry, law, and government; the school has been the

 

 

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1alma mater of many talented, successful, and famous people from
2vastly diverse fields of endeavor, such as renowned drummer
3Gene Krupa, Hollywood director Andrew Davis, and late radio
4personality Ed Schwartz; this historic educational institution
5continues to meet the educational needs of future generations
6who will call the South Chicago neighborhood their home;
7therefore, be it
 
8    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
9NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
10we congratulate the administration, teachers, and students of
11James Harvey Bowen High School in Chicago on the occasion of
12the school's 100th anniversary; and be it further
 
13    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
14prepared and presented to James Harvey Bowen High School as a
15symbol of our respect and esteem.