Former South Shore High School

Opened in 1940, Former South Shore High School first stood proudly at 7626 South Constance Avenue. For two decades, it served a primarily white student body from the local South Shore community. The Former South Shore High School witnessed a shift in demographics as the African American population grew in the late 1950s. By 1964, the school, designed for 2,000 students, was bursting at the seams. The Chicago Board of Education recognized the need for expansion. In 1965, plans were announced for an addition to the Former South Shore High School. Construction began in April 1966 at 75th Street and Constance Avenue. Initially budgeted at $2.5 million with a 1967 completion date, the project underwent several revisions. The final cost ballooned to $4.1 million, with Mercury Builders of Oak Park, Illinois, overseeing the construction. The new addition finally opened its doors to students on September 6, 1969. The Former South Shore High School continued to evolve. In 2001, the expanded campus at 7527–7627 South Constance Avenue was divided into four smaller, specialized schools. These included the School of Entrepreneurship, the School of the Arts, the School of Leadership, and the School of Technology. This structure lasted until 2009 when the Chicago Board of Education decided to phase out the smaller schools, a process completed by the end of the 2010–11 school year. The extension building, a testament to the school’s growth, was demolished in early 2012. The remaining students consolidated into the South Shore High School of Leadership at the original Constance Avenue campus for the 2011–12 school year. Simultaneously, a new selective enrollment magnet high school opened at 1955 East 75th Street, drawing students citywide. The School of Leadership on Constance Avenue closed after the 2013–14 school year, replaced by this new magnet school. The Former South Shore High School left its mark. Its student newspaper, The Shore Line, achieved a first-place ranking in the American Scholastic Press Association’s annual review in 1983. This was a groundbreaking achievement, the first of its kind for a Chicago school. Former South Shore High School students also won first place in an essay contest sponsored by the citizen school’s committee for two consecutive years, 1981 and 1982. The school even gained national attention when it was featured in a 1984 CBS documentary about Chicago’s public school system.