A Bit of School History
Clinton opened its doors on March 25,1925. According to alum Isabelle Johnson Smith, who was in first grade then, school meant portables on empty land. The main brick school building didn't open for another year, a sign of new neighborhood growth and development.
The school building shined with glossy wooden floors and hospital-colored painted hallways and rooms. Pictures of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln decorated the auditorium walls, and copies of framed American artist renditions lined the halls. Desks with holes for inkwells were bolted to the floor in six rows of eight deep. From the beginning, students were assigned to A or B groups, depending upon their birthdays. A's graduated in June, and B's graduated in February. The first students were a mix of Germans, Irish, and Swedes, whose fathers farmed or worked in the brickyards that lay west of California Avenue. As more families filled the neighborhood-and school-teachers contended with an amazing 48 students per class!
By 1930s, streetcars down newly-paved Western and Devon Avenues contributed to a population boom. Brick bungalows, duplexes, and large apartment buildings joined scattered older frame houses on largely undeveloped blocks. Theaters and the beginnings of a business district joined local saloons that dotted former gravel paths.
During the early 1930s, the Depression curtailed residential development. The slackened pace lasted through the war years until about 1950. Students learned about air raid drills in addition to memorizing facts, spelling bees, and precise writing exercises. The Clinton Echo displayed the country's patriotic fervor, including a pitch for war bonds. Children bubbled with current events' chatter over hour-long lunches at home with their mostly stay-at-home moms.
The 1950s brought an influx of Jewish families from Chicago's west and north sides whose ancestors came from Russia and Poland. The flood of postwar babies into schools led to the first Clinton addition in 1953 . In 1954, Clinton sent K-3 students to Green School, an annex on Sacramento Avenue. Slowly, corner empty lots filled with more single-family homes and apartment buildings. Devon Avenue developed into a lively business district lined with department stores (Crawfords, Abrams), five-and-dime stores (Woolworths, Neisners), bakeries (Leonards, Knopoffs), clothes stores (Carol Corr, Spetners), pharmacies (Rosens, Krinns), foods stores (Fine's Butcher Shop, Hellmans) and delis (Randalls). Clinton consumers bought penny candies across from the local school store at Kapps and later Brussos.
Since the 1970s, the Clinton community has benefitted from the varied ethnic groups who moved into the district. A large Jewish population remains, along with many students of German, Irish, and now Greek descent. The greatest increase in recent years has come from Asia, mainly from Korea, India, Pakistan, Philippines, and China. Many Indian and Pakistani immigrants have established businesses along Devon Avenue, making our old neighborhood a rich but very different place from when many of us went to school here. Newer, larger families swelled the school, creating the need for the most recent addition in 1995.
-- Source for information above "Community Celebration" - 75th Anniversary celebration information sheet.
Clinton opened its doors on March 25,1925. According to alum Isabelle Johnson Smith, who was in first grade then, school meant portables on empty land. The main brick school building didn't open for another year, a sign of new neighborhood growth and development.
The school building shined with glossy wooden floors and hospital-colored painted hallways and rooms. Pictures of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln decorated the auditorium walls, and copies of framed American artist renditions lined the halls. Desks with holes for inkwells were bolted to the floor in six rows of eight deep. From the beginning, students were assigned to A or B groups, depending upon their birthdays. A's graduated in June, and B's graduated in February. The first students were a mix of Germans, Irish, and Swedes, whose fathers farmed or worked in the brickyards that lay west of California Avenue. As more families filled the neighborhood-and school-teachers contended with an amazing 48 students per class!
By 1930s, streetcars down newly-paved Western and Devon Avenues contributed to a population boom. Brick bungalows, duplexes, and large apartment buildings joined scattered older frame houses on largely undeveloped blocks. Theaters and the beginnings of a business district joined local saloons that dotted former gravel paths.
During the early 1930s, the Depression curtailed residential development. The slackened pace lasted through the war years until about 1950. Students learned about air raid drills in addition to memorizing facts, spelling bees, and precise writing exercises. The Clinton Echo displayed the country's patriotic fervor, including a pitch for war bonds. Children bubbled with current events' chatter over hour-long lunches at home with their mostly stay-at-home moms.
The 1950s brought an influx of Jewish families from Chicago's west and north sides whose ancestors came from Russia and Poland. The flood of postwar babies into schools led to the first Clinton addition in 1953 . In 1954, Clinton sent K-3 students to Green School, an annex on Sacramento Avenue. Slowly, corner empty lots filled with more single-family homes and apartment buildings. Devon Avenue developed into a lively business district lined with department stores (Crawfords, Abrams), five-and-dime stores (Woolworths, Neisners), bakeries (Leonards, Knopoffs), clothes stores (Carol Corr, Spetners), pharmacies (Rosens, Krinns), foods stores (Fine's Butcher Shop, Hellmans) and delis (Randalls). Clinton consumers bought penny candies across from the local school store at Kapps and later Brussos.
Since the 1970s, the Clinton community has benefitted from the varied ethnic groups who moved into the district. A large Jewish population remains, along with many students of German, Irish, and now Greek descent. The greatest increase in recent years has come from Asia, mainly from Korea, India, Pakistan, Philippines, and China. Many Indian and Pakistani immigrants have established businesses along Devon Avenue, making our old neighborhood a rich but very different place from when many of us went to school here. Newer, larger families swelled the school, creating the need for the most recent addition in 1995.
-- Source for information above "Community Celebration" - 75th Anniversary celebration information sheet.
