![](Https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/Illinois_Industrial_School_for_Girls%2C_Park_Ridge%2C_Illinois_%28%22Illinois_Club_Bulletin%22%2C_Oct._1909%29.png/220px-Illinois_Industrial_School_for_Girls%2C_Park_Ridge%2C_Illinois_%28%22Illinois_Club_Bulletin%22%2C_Oct._1909%29.png)
The Illinois Industrial School for Girls (later, Park Ridge School for Girls; now Park Ridge Youth Campus) traced its foundation to 1877,[1] in South Evanston, Illinois.[2]: 3 The organization received its charter on January 9 and opened on November 1 in a building formerly used as a soldiers' home, with 5 acres (2.0 ha) of land. It was the first such school for girls in Illinois.[2]: 3 In 1879, Illinois General Assembly passed a general law to allow industrial schools for girls,[2]: 1 and on October 1, 1879, the school reorganized with a corporate charter under the new law. An 1882 lawsuit challenged the constitutionality of such schools in Illinois, but the court ruled in favor of the school's existence, judging it to be "of the same character" as the power of parens patriae already in the common law, and that the school was not a prison and committing a child to the school was not imprisonment.[2]: 3
The Record and Appeal, the organ of the school, was established in 1884. It recorded the work of the home and appealed for sympathy and help.[3] Mary Crowell Van Benschoten, a trustee for fifteen years, served as editor for eight years.[4]
After some complaints of mismanagement in 1894 and 1895, Illinois governor John Peter Altgeld attempted to discharge all 105 girls, but they refused to leave.[2]: 4
As early as 1903, there were calls to move and reorganize the school on the "cottage plan": for example by a T.H. MacQuerary, of the Chicago Parental School, in the American Journal of Sociology.[2]: 4
In 1906, a scandal over placement of some girls into poor homes, and the mismanagement of money, caused a change in leadership.[5][6][7][8] After the directors were reorganized, Jane Addams served on the school's board of directors.[1][8]
In early 1907, the Board of Directors announced that they planned to leave Evanston and relocate to a new rural location in Park Ridge.[9] With 125 girls and mounting financial difficulties, the school arranged for a charity baseball game that included a semi-professional team run by Cap Anson to be played at West Side Park.[10][11]
The facility was relocated to Park Ridge, Illinois in 1908, and renamed the Park Ridge School for Girls in 1913.[1]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Welcome to the Youth Campus School". History. Park Ridge, Illinois: Maine Township High School District 207. Archived from the original on 2012-10-29. Retrieved 2019-03-17. Also Archived 7 August 2011 at archive.today.
- ^ a b c d e f MacQueary, T. H. (July 1903). "Schools for Dependent, Delinquent, and Truant Children in Illinois". American Journal of Sociology. 9 (1). Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 3–5. doi:10.1086/211192.
- ^ The International Good Templar. Vol. 10 (Public domain ed.). B.F. Parker. 1896. p. 243. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ "MRS. MARY C. VAN BENSCHOTEN". Chicago Tribune. 30 March 1921. p. 15. Retrieved 23 December 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ "EVANSTON SCHOOL IS HIT.; WOMEN ATTACK INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTION FOR GIRLS. Girls Serve as Drudges. Wants Records of Servants.", Chicago Daily Tribune, p. 3, 28 January 1906,
The Evanston Industrial School for Girls, its management and its methods, were subjected to a scorching attack yesterday ... As a result of the meeting, an effort will be made to force a reorganization managing board ...
- ^ "COUNTY TO AID OF GIRLS.; BOARD ORDERS INVESTIGATION OF INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL. Can't Ignore Grave Charges. Reports Are Published Seldom.", Chicago Daily Tribune, p. 4, 30 January 1906,
President Brundage and the Cook county commissioners took a hand yesterday in the factional fight which has broken out in the directorate of the Illinois Industrial School for Girls at Evanston by appointing a committee of five to investigate the charges of extravagance and incompetency ...
- ^ "NEW ERA IN GIRLS' SCHOOL; OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS MUST HAND IN RESIGNATIONS.", Chicago Daily Tribune, p. 7, 20 February 1906,
Every director and officer of the Evanston Industrial School for Girls will be called upon to resign as a result of investigation made by the committee appointed a few weeks ago by the board of county commissioners.
- ^ a b "DELINQUENT GIRLS TO FARE BETTER.; Changes in the Industrial School at Evanston Follow Brundage's Threat. NEW DIRECTORS CHOSEN. Promise Made of Improving Conditions Which Called for Many Protests. some of the New Directors. Change Made in Superintendent.", Chicago Daily Tribune, p. 7, 26 October 1906,
Promise of new life under a regime entirely different from that which caused President E.J. Brundage of the county board to threaten the withdrawal of the dependent children from the Illinois Industrial School for Girls at Evanston was seen in the personnel of the directorate and the executive committee chosen for the institution yesterday ... The following names were given as those certain to take their places as directors ... Miss Jane Addams ...
- ^ "WANTS FARM FOR GIRLS.; EVANSTON INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL IS CONDEMNED BY DIRECTOR. Mrs. Hannah G. Solomon, in an Address to the Women's Guild of St. Peter's Church, Outlines Her Plan for Disposing of That Institution and Providing Model Cottages in the Country for Dependent Female Children--Assails Former Board. Assails the Former Board. Would Bar Out Delinquents. Wants Cottages for Girls.", Chicago Daily Tribune, p. 16, 19 January 1907,
A model farm school for dependent girls where they may live in cottages and grow healthy in the open country ... is the institution planned ... to take the place of the Evanston Industrial School for Girls ... she explained that arrangements would be made early in February to dispose of the Evanston property and establish a well equipped farm in the country, possibly at Park Ridge.
- ^ ".GAME TO AID GIRLS' SCHOOL.; Anson's Colts and the Gunthers to Play for Benefit of Industrial Institution at Evanston.", Chicago Daily Tribune, p. 6, 24 June 1907,
The Illinois Industrial School for Girls at Evanston is to have a "baseball benefit" ... The game will be played by "Cap" Anson's Colts and the Gunthers July 17 at west side ball park.
- ^ "ANSONS WIN BUSSE CUP FROM GUNTHERS IN CHARITY GAME.; Receipts of Yesterday's Semi-Pro Ball Contest Will Reach $4,000--To Enrich Evanston Girls' School.", Chicago Daily Tribune, p. 8, 18 July 1907