Group seeks to place Schurz on register of historic places by BRIAN NADIG “We were told that at one time which had a lunchroom on the top The recently formed Schurz High there was an alumni association, floor before it was converted to the School Alumni Association is lead- but I’ve been here since the 1970s band room, were built in 1915 and ing an effort to have the 100-year- and I had not heard anything about 1923. The school’s original auditori- old school placed on the National it,” Anderson said. um later became the library, which Register of Historic Places and to The school, which opened in 1910, features the “The Spirit of Chicago” restore the 75-year-old pipe organ features a Prairie-style exterior mural by Gustave Brand. in the school’s auditorium. designed by Dwight Perkins, who At the recommendation of the Illi- “A lot of the school has changed, was the chief architect for the nois Historic Preservation Agency, and a lot has stayed the same,” said Chicago Board of Education from the alumni association plans to alumni association president Tim 1906 to 1909. The building was make some minor changes to its Anderson, who graduated from named a Chicago landmark in 1979. national register application before Schurz in 1977 and who returned in Schurz replaced the smaller it is submitted to the National Park 2002 to become its band director. Jefferson High School, which was at Service, which oversees the register. “The kids think the hallways are too Wilson and Knox avenues and The Commission on Chicago Land- crowded now, but when I was a stu- which later was replaced by Mayfair marks recently approved a resolu- dent, there were 4,000 of us.” School, where the Irish American tion in support of the association’s Current enrollment is about 2,400 Heritage Center is now located. national register campaign. students. The school is named after Carl The association also is working to The alumni association was Schurz, a Civil War general who restore the M.P. Moller pipe organ formed to organize a series of events, fought in the battles of Chancellors- in the auditorium. Walter Slocum, including a sock hop last spring, in ville and Gettysburg and who later the school’s first principal, “had the A PHOTOGRAPH from the Schurz High School Alumni The association is working to have the building placed honor of the school’s centennial cele- served as a U.S. senator from Mis- auditorium built around the organ,” Association shows the school as it looked when it opened on the National Register of Historic Places and also to bration. It has about 600 members, souri. Anderson said. 100 years ago. restore the school’s original pipe organ. with $20 membership dues. Additions to the five-story school, “It was Slocum’s baby,” he said. “He wanted to leave it as his legacy to the school.” The association estimates that it could cost up to $150,000 to refur- bish the organ. “For what it can play, it still sounds beautiful to lis- ten to,” Anderson said. Celebrating Our 71st Year — Established May, 1940 The alumni association plans to launch a Web site this fall. A link to the Web site will be available Our 71st Year Wednesday, September 22, 2010 through the school’s Web site, which Number 38 www.nadignewspapers.com can be reached at www.schurzhs. org. $1.5 million in TIF funds Man charged in bombing plot A Northwest Side man was an explosive device, both of which allegedly selected the Wrigleyville arrested at about midnight Sunday, are felony offenses. If convicted of neighborhood as his target and Sept. 19, after he allegedly at- the charges, he faces a sentence of planned to detonate an explosive for 17th station project tempted to act on a plot to detonate 5 years to life in prison. device on a weekend night to inflict a bomb in Wrigleyville, according to The criminal complaint filed by maximum damage, according to by CYRYL JAKUBOWSKI for Thai-influenced retail and non- bicycle racks. the Chicago office of the Federal U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald the FBI. The Chicago Community Develop- profit uses, including a tapas-style The parking lot on the west side Bureau of Investigation. alleges that starting in June, Has- In July Hassoun’s associate intro- ment Commission recommended the restaurant that also would sell of the site near Pulaski will contain Members of the FBI’s Joint Ter- soun, who is a Lebanese citizen duced him to an undercover agent use of more than $1.5 million in packaged food, a spa, a wellness 10 parking spots including one rorism Task Force took the man and a permanent resident alien, who told the suspect that he had funds from the Lawrence-Pulaski center and office space for the Thai handicapped spot, while the lot on into custody on Seminary Avenue began expressing to an associate a access to explosives and the expert- Tax Increment Financing District to American Association of Illinois. the east side near Harding Avenue near the 3500 block of North Clark desire to commit acts of violence in ise to construct an explosive device, help create the Thai Town Center in Sampanthavivat, who owns Arun’s will contain 23 parking spots. Street immediately after he placed the city for monetary gain and to according to the FBI. During meet- the former 17th (Albany Park) Dis- Restaurant, 4156 N. Kedzie Ave., The project will create 40 new a backpack containing what he cause political transformation in ings with the agent and a second trict police station, 4461 N. Pulaski presented preliminary plans for the full-time jobs, including job-train- thought was an explosive device Chicago. The associate was secret- undercover agent, Hassoun alleg- Road. development at a meeting held in ing opportunities such as chef train- inside a curbside trash can near a ly cooperating with the FBI and edly discussed several possible The commission recommended the July. The station has been closed ing, and create 32 construction jobs, crowded street corner, according to assisted the investigation of the plots in which he could dramatical- proposal for the neighborhood cen- since the new 17th District station according to Laurino’s office. the FBI. The backpack contained alleged threats, according to the ly affect the city and force the ter to the City Council at its meeting opened in 2005. The site is zoned B1- In a letter to the Department of an inert device that had been pro- FBI. mayor to resign, the FBI said. on Sept. 14. Under the plan, the 1, which allows small retail uses. Community Development, Laurino vided by an undercover FBI agent. Hassoun discussed a number of Hassoun eventually settled on a developer will pay $780,000 for the According to the plans, improve- said that she recognizes the impor- The suspect was identified by possible targets and plots with this bombing outside a crowded Wrig- property, and $1,506,306 in assis- ments to the 12,500-square-foot sta- tance of showcasing the cultural the FBI as Sami Samir Hassoun, associate, including a biological at- leyville nightclub as the first step tance will come from the TIF dis- tion, which was built in 1938, will and ethnic groups in the 39th Ward. age 22, of the 4700 block of North tack on the city, poisoning Lake in his plan, according to the FBI. trict. The total cost of the project is include enlarging the windows on “The Thai community has grown Kedzie Avenue. Hassoun has been Michigan, attacking police officers, Hassoun met with the undercover $3,365,730, and the use of TIF funds the front of the station and using to become a significant influence in charged with one count each of bombing the Willis Tower and agent late Saturday night, and the is necessary because of rehabilita- materials such as stone and wood to Chicago, but has yet to develop an attempted use of a weapon of mass assassinating Mayor Richard agent provided him a backpack tion costs including significant envi- create a Thai-influenced look. The area of the city with their identity,” destruction and attempted use of Daley, according to the FBI. He (Continued on Page 10) ronmental remediation, according to plans also call for installing perme- (Continued on Page 10) Alderman Margaret Laurino (39th). able pavers, a porch for outdoor Thai cuisine chef Arun Sam- seating, new stairwells, a handi- panthavivat and other investors capped accessible ramp, a rooftop Funding sought for schoolhouse study are planning to use the old station garden, ornamental fencing and by BRIAN NADIG with Arris Architects and Planners, grant with the National Trust for ing donations, has a Web site which Raising funds to pay for a feasibil- which is overseeing the restoration Historic Preservation to pay the ini- can be reached at www.oldedge- ity study will be the top priority of of a one-room schoolhouse in Plain- tial costs but that trust informed her brookhistoricalsociety.com. Man breaks in with the task force which is leading the field. Arris estimates that a complete that for the group to become eligible There has been confusion about effort to restore an approximately feasibility study plus preparation of for a grant, a local agency, such as the age of the building. Research 155-year-old schoolhouse which construction documents and over- the Commission on Chicago Land- conducted by the Chicago History stands on Cook County Forest Pre- seeing the restoration work would marks, would have to declare that Museum found that a school known residents at home serve District’s Caldwell Golf cost about $40,000, and that the con- the structure could qualify as an his- as Forest Glen School was erected Course.