Dunbar Vocational High School

Description

Dunbar Vocational High School is a public 6–year vocational high school located in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the south side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Dunbar opened in 1942 and is operated by the Chicago Public Schools district. The school is named in honor of the African–American poet, novelist, and playwright Paul Laurence Dunbar.HistoryOpening in September 1942 as a Dunbar Trade School, the school was created to provide skill workers for the war. When the school opened, the school had a student enrollment of 1,500; Mostly all of which were African–American. The school was considered as a "vocational branch" of Wendell Phillips High School, considering both schools were predominately African–American. In 1946, the Chicago Public Schools changed the trade school into a public high school, accepting ninth grade students in January of that year. The school's first location was in a former elementary school building located at 4401 South St. Lawrence Avenue. In addition to the school building, twenty–two mobile classroom which served as vocational shops were constructed on the site over the course of several months after its opening.By 1952, Dunbar suffered from issues dealing with overcrowding and aging of the school building. The Chicago Board of Education decided that a new school building was needed for Dunbar. A vacant site about two and a half miles north from the school's location was voted on and selected as the new Dunbar's location in mid–1954; costing the district a mere $7 million to construct. The groundbreaking ceremony for the new school occurred in April 1955 with Chicago school officials and then newly elected Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley, construction began at 3000 South Parkway Avenue (now Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive) shortly thereafter. The new Dunbar Vocational High School building opened for students for the 1956–57 school year. By the school 20th anniversary in 1962, the school's enrollment was at 2,300; which included students taking night classes and drop-outs enrolled in trade classes.