The catholic school that forced a change in the 1950s design of a popular Chicago expressway will close at the end of the academic year, the school announced.
The historic St. Stanislaus Kostka Academy, located at1255 North Noble Street in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood, will close for good at the end of the school year after over a century and a half, church leaders said in an email sent to parents and staff last week.
The closure comes after school “has been on ‘life support’ for some time,” Father Anthony Bus said in the email.
“Enrollment has plummeted for a variety of reasons. We are anticipating a school deficit of nearly $500,000 by the end of the school year,” Bus said in the email. “My heart breaks for all of you who have found a healthy and holy refuge for your children at St. Stanislaus Kostka Academy. The dedication of the faculty and staff, their love for your children, and the sacrifices they have made are admirable.”
The school also announced the closure on social media.
The school changed their name to St. Stanislaus Kostka Academy in 2020 from St. Stanislaus Kostka School, and with the name change their motto became “Faith, Virtue, Valor — Expressway to Excellence”‘ — an homage to their mission to “educate the whole person” that makes a nod at the school’s impact on the 1950s design process for the expressway now known as the Kennedy, according to the history section of the school’s website.
After early plans for the construction of the Northwest Expressway (now known as the Kennedy) threatened the possible demolition of St. Stanislaus Kostka Church and several of the parish buildings in the 1950s, protests ensued, according to the school’s website.
Ultimately, the plan for the expressway was changed to spare the church and majority of the buildings.
“We are the parish that moved an expressway,” the school’s website says.
Many past and present students are part of families with years of ties to the school, including Christine Millers’ family. St. Stanislaus Kostka Academy has been a part of her family for more than 60 years and she still has her kindergarten pictures, she said.
“Oh my God, we’ve had three generations going to that school, my brother, my sister, and I, and then my sister had her kids going there. My kids all went there. And it’s a great school, you know, I love it. So, so many good memories,” Miller said. “I wish I could win the lotto. If I did, that school would be continuing.”
The original school opened in 1874. The same year, America’s first public zoo opened. Barbed wire was also invented that year.
Kyle Werner says he was “crushed” to hear the school would close, adding that he forged lifelong friendships and his religious beliefs at the school. He was also on the basketball team.
“That school has been there forever,” he said. “All my cousins went there. Two of my siblings went there.”
Werner played for the school’s basketball team and said he still calls the “guys on that team brothers.”
According to the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office of Catholic Schools there are 105 students enrolled in the school. Tuition for new students is $8,250 a year and returning students pay $7,835.
A spokesman for the archdiocese said there are currently no plans for the building as of now.
National Catholic Schools Week the annual celebration of Catholic education in the United States takes place next week.
St. Stanislaus Kostka Academy did not immediately respond to NBC Chicago’s inquiry.
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