Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett
In 1918, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “The new St. Edmond’s Parochial School within two blocks of our home needed scenery, so I got a little line from one of the Parishioners. Met Father Code and he was willing to spend $600.00, but wanted a figure curtain. I had a fine wood cut of “The Landing of Columbus” which he selected, and we were very successful in getting a very good curtain. He was well pleased with it.” Moses was referring to Rev. Msgr. John J. Code of St. Edmund, the first Catholic Parish in Oak Park, Illinois. St. Edmund’s Catholic School opened in the fall of 1917 and operated until 2016.
Code was appointed by Archbishop James Quigley to organize the Oak Park church, serving from June 1907 until October 1956. Father Code made plans to construct a school on the corner of Oak Park Avenue and Pleasant Street in Oak Park and selected architect Henry J. Schlaks. Schlaks designed the new school after the Palace of Justice in Rouen, France.
The cornerstone for St. Edmund’s school was laid on May 20, 1917, with dedication ceremonies on October 14 of that year. The original structure had five classrooms, one of which housed the nuns; the Dominican Sisters from Adrian, Michigan were the instructors. A convent was later purchased for the nuns on the southwest corner of Euclid and Pleasant Street. Over time the school expanded to 17 classrooms. An annex to the school was completed in 1948, with four new classrooms, a music hall and library. In 1959 and a modern two-story addition was added on the south. Unfortunately enrollment declined for a variety of reasons by the twenty-first century.
On Jan. 13, 2016, the “Chicago Tribune” reported, “The Chicago Archdiocese has announced that one more school will close at the end of the academic year, just one year short of celebrating its centennial. St. Edmund Catholic School in west suburban Oak Park could not overcome years of declining enrollment and financial difficulties, the archdiocese said. There are three other Catholic schools in Oak Park: Ascension, Sr. Giles and St. Catherine Siena-St. Lucy.”
Here is the current website for the church: http://www.stedmund.org/
To be continued…
