On This Site: The History of the Illinois Industrial School for Girls and Solomon Cottage
Illinois Industrial School for Girls
Prospect Park is located on the historic grounds of the Illinois Industrial School for Girls. The school opened in Evanston, IL in 1877 and moved to 40 acres of farmland in Park Ridge in 1908. The architectural and historical significance of this property earned it a place on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
Twelve acres of the original 40 remained as the school campus until 2012 when the school closed. The land and buildings were acquired by the Park Ridge Park District following a successful referendum. The newest park in the Park Ridge Park District system was named Prospect Park and opened to the public in 2016.
History of the School
The Illinois Industrial School for Girls first opened on November 1, 1877 in Evanston, IL and was one of the first industrial schools in the Chicago area. The goal of the school was to safely house and teach basic skills in the industrial arts to dependent and destitute young girls. Parental guidance was also provided.
The school eventually owned 40 acres in Park Ridge and for 25 years (1883-1908) this land was used exclusively as a farm to support the school.
The school operated in Evanston until in 1908, when school to build a new campus on the land in Park Ridge.
The first building erected for the school in 1908 was Solomon Cottage, now the Park Ridge History Center. This building was named after Hannah Solomon, President of the School at the time of its relocation. The cottage served as a student receiving facility with living quarters for a house mother and where seven girls also lived and acclimated to the School program.
By 1914 a total of eight school buildings were erected, six of which were designed by the noted Chicago architectural firm of Holabird & Roche. The buildings were built around a circular drive and included a receiving cottage, five group homes for the girls and a house mother, a school building for the domestic sciences with administrative offices, and an academic school building.
From 1908 when the first buildings were erected in Park Ridge, until 1930 approximately 26 acres at the north end of the property were used to grow food for the school and for sale. The farmland that was part of the original school campus was sold to a developer in 1952 and the funds were used to finance major renovations to the campus buildings.
Three of the original school buildings remain today: Wohlers Hall, Emery Cottage and Solomon Cottage.
Wohlers Hall
Emery Cottage
Solomon Cottage
The name of the school changed several times over its 104 year history in Park Ridge, as it continued to serve the changing needs of the youth in their care.
Illinois Industrial School for Girls Timeline
1906 – Hannah Solomon leads the reorganization of the School and its move to Park Ridge. Under Hannah’s and Jane Addams guidance, The School adopts the ‘Cottage Plan’ for the layout of the new School – which provides for small, discrete houses for the girls, a housemother in charge of each, on grounds with plenty of open space and fresh air. Hannah affirms that the School’s focus will remain on providing the girls with a family atmosphere, education, and training in domestic skills.
1906 to 1940 – During the reorganization process, Hannah is named the Vice President of the School Board in 1906 and serves as President beginning January 1, 1907. Her close friends Jane Addams and Ellen Henrotin sit on the Board as Directors, along with others. Forty acres of farmland near Prospect and Oakton were available as the new location for the School, thanks to an initial 1883 bequest of Mary Talcott, widow of Park Ridge pioneer Mancel Talcott, Jr.
Construction of School residential Cottages began in 1908. By 1914, eight brick buildings stand at the new School: six residential Cottages, the School Building, and the Straut School of Domestic Economy Building. In 1913 the School’s name is changed to the Park Ridge School for Girls. In 1937 Mrs. Solomon resigns from the School Board of Directors after 29 years of service.
1940 to 1977 – In the 1940s, the School’s mission has changed to include homelike care and education along with its traditional custodial care. Secretarial skills now became a focus for more opportunities for employment. Through the 1950s and 60s, living at the School included attending the local high school, which provided the best schooling and opportunities for higher education. Whether trained for domestic or secretarial employment or prepared for college, girls from the School would become responsible and productive adult members of their communities.
Private funding continues to sustain the School as a resource for families touched by crisis and for dependent girls. By the early 1970s, there are changes in the School’s mission, as the new Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is now the State agency responsible for care of dependent children in need.
1977 – The Park Ridge School for Girls celebrates its 100th anniversary. A new program is announced: residential teen pregnancy care. It was one of two such programs in Illinois. Vietnamese refugee families are given shelter in several of the Cottages.
1980 – A new Teaching-Family Program model of care is adopted. One residential Cottage now assigned exclusively for eight boys. With boys now eligible for admission to the School, the name is changed to The Park Ridge Youth Campus.
1992 – Foster Care becomes a new focus and prompts the opening of a Chicago office from which to recruit, train and support foster care families across the Chicago area. A new name was needed to indicate this broadening of scope: The Youth Campus. A program for medically complex infants treated children suffering from the effects of drug exposure.
2001 – 2007 Changes in child welfare prompted The Youth Campus to develop new initiatives supporting permanency in placements, services to biological families, and prevention programs. As the impact of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services on The Youth Campus increased in the 2000s, its mission to serve children and families in need became focused on providing adolescent residential treatment for girls 12-18 years old removed from their homes due to abuse and neglect, and prevention of removal in cases of medically or developmentally challenged children.
2008 – 2012 Caregiver Support for biological and and foster parents of medically and developmentally challenged infants and children in Cook County is expanded to include recruiting, training, and licensing for Foster Care and Adoption. The Foster Care Village plan is installed at several Cottages at The Youth Campus.
2012 – The Youth Campus closes its residential facility in Park Ridge in April.
The Youth Campus encompassed a rich heritage. Throughout 104 years of service in Park Ridge, it remained focused on the visions of Hannah Solomon and Jane Addams to assist children to become independent and productive adult members of their communities.
Hannah Solomon
Hannah Solomon was born in Chicago in 1858. She was a prominent Chicagoan, social activist, and distinguished person in national, state and local history. Hannah Solomon made a career out of volunteerism and social reform. She became a member of the influential Chicago Women’s Club at age 18 and founded the National Council of Jewish Women at 35 during the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.
Hannah Solomon was inspired by her friends Lucy Flower and Julia Lathrop and their efforts to reform the Cook County Court System regarding treatment of juveniles, and improvement of the laws in Chicago concerning children. She supported the efforts of the Juvenile Court Committee to institute the formation of the Cook County Juvenile Court, the first such court in the United States, which was established by the Illinois state Legislature and placed into effect on July 1, 1899. Her dedication to the welfare of dependent children made her an acknowledged community leader, with close connections to Jane Addams at Hull House.
In early 1907, Hannah Solomon was appointed President of the Illinois Industrial School for Girls with the mission to change and improve the affairs of the school. Her vision was to build a new school in the cottage system model on the land owned in Park Ridge.
Hannah Solomon enlisted the assistance of many prominent Chicagoans to serve on the Board of Directors of the School and to contribute funds to construct all of the buildings at the new location in Park Ridge.
Visit the Park Ridge History Center, 721 N. Prospect Avenue to view the exhibit “On This Site: The History of the Illinois Industrial School for Girls and Solomon Cottage”. The exhibit includes many photographs and additional information on the history of this site – Prospect Park.
