First Person Reflection: Reporter Recalls Her Days at East School

It had been close to 30 years prior to walking into for Sunday's open house.

Over the years, I had either driven or walked past it on one of my treks through my old east side neighborhood, or on my way to watch the Fourth of July Parade.

I have only seen East’s exterior walls in recent years, and from that particular perspective, it looked pretty much the same as when I attended school there for kindergarten through third grade.

Upon entering the building though, it became abundantly clear that the 115-year-old building was slated for demolition next month.

Most of the rooms have been completely gutted, wood door and window casings have been pulled out, floors have been ripped up, and they are scattered in piles around the building.

It was also obvious the minute you entered that the heat had been cut off, and Sunday’s rainy chill permeated the school.

That aside, it was still the East School I remember. From the murals that still remained on some of the walls, to the fireplace in the gym, it was easy to picture the hallways filled with generations of Lake Bluff children.

The famous native American mural that was long perched above the gym’s fireplace, which was restored in 2005 by the Chicago Conservation Co., has now been removed and been placed in Lake Bluff’s new elementary school in the central part of town.

Built in the late 1800’s, was the first elementary school in Lake Bluff, and at one time educated children from kindergarten through eighth grade.

Kathleen O’Hara, my former eighth grade history teacher at Lake Bluff Junior High (now Middle School), who now serves as a Village trustee and vice president for the , informed me in the 1920s, the gymnasium also served as a movie theatre that showed some of the first silent movies in Lake Forest and Lake Bluff on Friday nights.

“It’s a grand old school,” she said.

In 1922, the first additions to East, on the western side of the building took place, and in 1950, the top floor was added.

When I attended East School, from 1975-1980, the additions were complete, and all of my classrooms were in the newer part of the building.

Back then, the school held kindergarten through sixth grade. About four years later, sixth grade was moved to the junior high.

When I attended East, the sixth graders were the big kids that you either looked up to, or were afraid of, and their classrooms were the only ones that were always located in the basement classrooms, which was considered quite cool.

I couldn’t wait to get to sixth grade, and be one of the big kids. However, my parents moved my family to a new house on the western side of the railroad tracks when I entered fourth grade, so I left East School, for Central School, which was located at the site of the new elementary school.

Although technically, the home I spent most of my Lake Bluff years in is the one we moved to when I was in fourth grade, I still consider myself for the most part to be an east Lake Bluff girl, and an East School girl.

I still keep in close contact with several of my friends from East, and we definitely share a special bond that is only known to east Lake Bluff girls.

When I left the school for the final time on Sunday, it was pouring freezing rain, which didn’t really afford me the opportunity to stop and take one last look back.

The image of my old school remains vivid in my mind though, and Miss O’Hara was right…it really is a grand old school.

The next time I drive or walk past the corner of Sheridan Place and Vincent Court, East School will be gone.

I am happy though, that the property where it stands for just a few more weeks will remain green space, where the children of Lake Bluff can still run and play. I can think of no better use for what will soon be known as the land where East School once stood.