James H. Bowen High School (known simply as Bowen High School) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

4–year

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

located in the

South Chicago South Chicago, formerly known as Ainsworth, is one of the 77 community areas of Chicago, Illinois. This chevron-shaped community is one of Chicago's 16 lakefront neighborhoods near the southern rim of Lake Michigan 10 miles south of downtown. ...

neighborhood on the south side of

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, United States. Bowen is operated by the

Chicago Public Schools Chicago Public Schools (CPS), officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, in Chicago, Illinois, is the third-largest school district in the United States, after New York and Los Angeles. ...

district. From 1993 until 2011, Bowen was divided into four smaller schools. Today, the smaller schools have been re-consolidated back into one school.

History

Bowen High School was established in 1882, under the name South Chicago High School in one of the classrooms of the Bowen Elementary School (demolished), which was located at the northwest corner of 93rd Street and Houston Avenue in the then-independent community of South Chicago. Fourteen pupils were given high school-level instruction. The elementary school and its successor high school were named for Colonel James H. Bowen (1822-1881), the first president of the Calumet and Chicago Canal Dock Company and the man known as "the father of

". The two schools became separate institutions in 1910, when the current building was constructed at the northeast corner of Marquette and 89th Street. It was designed by Dwight Perkins (1867–1941), supervising architect of the Chicago Public School system between 1905 and 1910, and built "on identical plans" as its more famous cousin, Irving Park High School. (opened as

Carl Schurz High School Carl Schurz High School is a public 4–year high school located in the Irving Park neighborhood on the northwest side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. The school is named after German–American Carl Schurz, a statesman, soldier, and advoca ...

The latter building is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. The building cost $700,000 and contained about 125 rooms; it was noted for its manual training and domestic science departments. By the 1930s, Bowen's student body had grown to 4,600, due to the great increase in immigrants of

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

and Slavic descent in the South Chicago area.

Athletics

Bowen competes in the

Chicago Public League The Chicago Public High School Athletic Association, commonly known as the Chicago Public League (CPL), is the interscholastic competition arm of the Chicago Public Schools. The governance of the CPL is set through the Department of Sports Admini ...

(CPL) and is a member of the

Illinois High School Association The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) is an association that regulates competition of interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level for the state of Illinois. It is a charter member of the National Fed ...

(IHSA). Bowen sport teams are called the Boilermakers. The boys' baseball team were Public League champions in the 1953–54 and the 1971 season. The boys' soccer team were Public League champions three times (1979–80, 1980–81 and 1981–82).IHSA Chicago (Bowen)
/ref> the boys' football team were Blue Division champs in 1963 defeating Harlan 19-18. After taking a 13-0 lead at half time Bowen came back in the last two minutes of the game to win it on a pass from George Lalich to Steve Zinini. Steve served as a gunner on a chopper in Vietnam. The team got the ball back because of a fumble recovery by Jim Robinson who served as a marine in Vietnam. Those three were the heroes of the game. They were Blue Division Champs back to back in 1981, 1982 and 1983 defeating Harlan each time. The following year they moved up to The Red Division.

Notable alumni

Jon Burge Jon Graham Burge (December 20, 1947 – September 19, 2018) was an American police detective and commander in the Chicago Police Department who was found guilty of having "directly participated in or implicitly approved the torture" of at lea ...

Chicago Police Department The Chicago Police Department (CPD) is the municipal law enforcement agency of the U.S. city of Chicago, Illinois, under the jurisdiction of the City Council. It is the second-largest municipal police department in the United States, behind t ...

officer, convicted of torturing over 200 men into giving false confessions. Served 4 years. *

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and lead singer of the rock band Genesis and also has a career as a solo performer. Between 1982 and ...

– former

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

player (''

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

'', ''

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

'', ''

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals hav ...

'') * Andrew Davis – film director. *

Johnny Drake John William "Zero" Drake (March 27, 1916 – March 26, 1973) was an American football player. He was the first round pick (10th overall) by the Cleveland Rams, their first ever draft pick, in the 1937 NFL Draft The 1937 National Football Lea ...

- football player *

Eli Grba Eli Grba (August 9, 1934 – January 14, 2019) was an American professional baseball pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB). He pitched for the New York Yankees in 1959 and 1960 and for the Los Angeles Angels from 1961 through 1963. Grba began ...

– former baseball player who pitched in the 1960 World Series as a member of the New York Yankees. *

Bill Haarlow Arnold William Haarlow Jr. (May 5, 1913 – November 21, 2003) was an American basketball player who played in the American National Basketball League. Haarlow was a star player in high school, playing for Bowen High in Chicago. He then attende ...

– early professional basketball player. *

Roy Henshaw Roy Knikelbine Henshaw (July 29, 1911 – June 8, 1993), was a professional baseball player who played pitcher in the Major Leagues from 1933 to 1944. Born in Chicago, Henshaw played collegiately for the University of Chicago. Henshaw spent eig ...

- former big-league left-handed pitcher who went 33-40 in parts of eight seasons (1933, 1935-1938, 1942-1944) in the majors, most notably with the "

". *

Billy Holm William Frederick Holm (July 21, 1912 – July 27, 1977) was a Major League Baseball catcher who played for the Chicago Cubs (1943–1944) and Boston Red Sox (1945). A native of Chicago, he stood 5'10½" and weighed 168 lbs. Holm is one of ...

– former

player (''

'', ''

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

''). *

Joni James Giovanna Carmella Babbo (September 22, 1930 – February 20, 2022), known professionally as Joni James, was an American singer of traditional pop music. Biography Giovanna Carmella Babbo was born to an Italian-American family in Chicago, Illino ...

– MGM Records star who sold more than 100 million singles and albums worldwide beginning in 1952, four years after graduating from Bowen. *

Gene Krupa Eugene Bertram Krupa (January 15, 1909 – October 16, 1973), known as Gene Krupa, was an American jazz drummer, bandleader and composer who performed with energy and showmanship. His drum solo on Benny Goodman's 1937 recording of "Sing, Sing, S ...

– drummer. *

Edward M. Lerner Edward M. Lerner (born 1949) is an American author of science fiction, techno-thrillers, and popular science. As of 2022 he has twenty-three published books: eleven solo novels (three in his InterstellarNet universe), six collections, five nov ...

– science fiction author and technologist. *

Samuel C. Maragos Samuel Constantine Maragos (August 19, 1922 – August 23, 2005) was an American politician from Illinois who served as a Democratic member of the Illinois General Assembly from 1969 to 1980. Biography Maragos was born in Sioux City, Iowa on Au ...

, member of the

Illinois General Assembly The Illinois General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. It has two chambers, the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in 181 ...

. *

Kenneth Mars Kenneth Mars (April 4, 1935 – February 12, 2011) was an American actor. He appeared in two Mel Brooks films: as the deranged Nazi playwright Franz Liebkind in '' The Producers'' (1967) and Police Inspector Hans Wilhelm Friedrich Kemp in ''Young ...

- actor ( The Producers,

Malcolm in the Middle ''Malcolm in the Middle'' is an American family television sitcom created by Linwood Boomer for Fox. The series premiered on January 9, 2000, and ended on May 14, 2006, after seven seasons and 151 episodes. The series follows a dysfunctional ...

) *

Tony Piet Anthony Francis Piet, born Anthony Francis Pietruszka (December 7, 1906 – December 1, 1981) was an infielder in Major League Baseball from 1931 to 1938. He played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds, Chicago White Sox, and Detroit Tigers ...

– baseball player for the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

Earl W. Renfroe Earl Wiley Renfroe (January 9, 1907 – November 14, 2000) was and African-American dentist known as an innovator in the field of orthodontics and for breaking down the barriers of racism. Renfroe taught at the University of Illinois at Chicago ...

- orthodontist * Ed Schwartz –radio host who worked at

WIND Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hou ...

, WGN, and WLUP in Chicago. * Marc Smith – creator of slam poetry. * Ed Winceniak – former

player (''

'').

References

External links

Facebook: Bowen High SchoolOfficial Bowen High School Alumni Association Inc. Bowen High School Website
{{authority control Public high schools in Chicago Educational institutions established in 1900 1900 establishments in Illinois