Chicago (population 2.8 million) is in northeastern Illinois in eastern Cook County. Lake Michigan, along with the Chicago and Des Plaines Rivers are the main waterways in the city. Interstates 55, 57, 90, & 94 will all lead you to the "Windy City." From what started as a small village in the early 1800’s along the banks of Lake Michigan, Chicago has grown to the nation's third largest city and one of the most famous places in the world, as the result of an ethnically diverse community that adopted the city.

English High School (also known as English High & Manual Training) was opened in 1886 as an all-boys' three-year high school, flourishing as the city grew by leaps and bounds during that time. The school, which opened in the former Chicago Central building, became a four-year institution later in the 1890's.

The school was named English High and Manual Training because all instruction was done in English (rather than the mother tongue of those immigrant students and their families), and to be purely mental while educating the coordination of hand and eye for the students so they could serve the communities they lived in once they graduated in an intellectual and self-sufficient manner.

English High and Manual Training moved to the corner of Oakley and Van Buren in 1903, then changed its name to Crane in 1905 in honor of plumbing magnate Richard T. Crane, who was responsible for pouring the first mould in 1855 for what would become important to fighting fires....the fire hydrant. That school would later add onto its campus in 1922, and welcomed students from the former McKinley High campus when that school closed in 1954.

FACTS ABOUT CHICAGO ENGLISH HIGH SCHOOL & MANUAL TRAINING

Year opened:                1886

Year closed:                 1905

School colors:               unknown

School nickname:          unknown

School song:                 unknown