Bloom Township High School - Chicago Heights, IL
Posted by: adgorn
N 41° 30.840 W 087° 38.637
16T E 446265 N 4596018
Beautiful art deco high school building, named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
Waymark Code: WMCYGF
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 10/26/2011
Views: 2
The main Bloom Township High School building, erected during the Great Depression from 1931-1934, was named to the National Register of Historic Places on June 3, 1982. Bloom was the the first public high school in Illinois to be so designated. It is an Art Deco structure designed by the architectural firm of Royer, Danley, and Smith of Urbana, Illinois. Major additions were finished in 1956 and 1976.
The two Bedford Limestone statues of students at the outside entrance were donated by the class of 1938. The WPA artists chosen as sculptors were Felix W. Schlag (the artist who designed the Jefferson head nickel) and Curtis Drewes.
Inside the entrance are six WPA murals, frescoes created by Edgar Britton in 1935. He used students as models as he depicted the major academic pursuits of the time and into the future. Britton studied under the famous American artist Grant Wood.
Both murals and statues were restored in 1987 through private donations. Learn more about Bloom from their website at: (
visit link)
I just happened to be driving by when my eyes were drawn to the beautiful art deco structure, so I pulled over to take some pictures.