Retrospective on the Academy Gym

Many people think only of our military tradition when the early years of Morgan Park Academy are mentioned. But from 1892 through 1906, Morgan Park Academy served as the college preparatory school for the University of Chicago under the leadership of William Rainey Harper, its first president. This era in the Academy’s history was a particularly busy one in the area of construction, when three buildings were erected between 1898 and 1901.

Two of these buildings, East Hall and West Hall, were designed by Dankmar Adler and built in 1899. Both were built as dormitories, with East Hall providing a kitchen and dining room, as well as a temporary gym. Plans to build a new gymnasium were underway to replace a structure that had burned down in 1897. Adler was tapped to design this building as well, but died in 1899. Dwight Perkins, a rising star in Chicago’s architecture world, received the commission for the new Academy gym. Perkins worked for Daniel Burnham and John Root early in his career, and once shared office space with Frank Lloyd Wright.

Perkins is perhaps most well known for his prairie school design, attributed to more than forty schools in Chicago. His design of the Morgan Park Academy gymnasium is an early expression of this style.

Second floor gym decorated for school dance (1930's)

The gym was built of brick and brown stone, containing four large divisions. The largest of these had an earth floor, with elevated corners, which served as a running track (17 laps to the mile). In addition to a main court, the building also accommodated a batting cage, handball court and bowling alley.

The facility stood as it was built until 1953, at which time the Board of Trustees approved an addition that contained new offices, a locker room and a multipurpose space.

The hopes of improving, renovating or replacing the existing structure swelled at times throughout the 20^th Century. As early as 1914, a student group calling themselves “The New Gymnasium Club” tried to rally the school to secure loans “for the complete remodeling of the present gymnasium.” They dreamed of a modern swimming pool, drill hall, club rooms and a library. The price tag for this effort was $25,000.

Many alumni who played sports at the Academy have recounted tales of recruiting meetings at which faculty members or administrators enticed them to enroll with promises of a new gym before they graduated. In the end, other priorities took precedence, in the form of new dorms, classrooms and an art center. As the student changed over the years, the Academy found ways to accommodate boys and girls, and younger and older children.

Bowling Alley (1907)

This elder statesman of buildings on the Academy campus has stood the test of time and provided the backdrop for more than a century of athletic tradition. At last, relief is on the way with the full restoration of the existing gymnasium including renovation of both floors of the existing structure, providing brand new locker rooms, offices, state-of-the-art training areas and an elevator to the second floor.  Adjacent to the existing gym will be a new structure with a regulation size gym and a glass lobby described by the architects as a “beacon of light.” Morgan Park Academy is not replacing, but Building on Tradition.