Maine North High School (officially was known as Maine Township High School North) was a public four–year high school in Des Plaines, Illinois, United States, located northwest of Chicago. Maine North was located in unincorporated Maine Township, part of

Maine Township High School District 207 Maine Township High School District 207 is a school district based in Illinois. Composed of all of Park Ridge and most of Des Plaines, as well as portions of Glenview, Harwood Heights, Morton Grove, Niles, Norridge, and Norwood Park Town ...

which includes Maine East, Maine West, and

Maine South High School Maine South High School (officially known as Maine Township High School South) is a public four-year high school located in Park Ridge, Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of Maine Township High S ...

s. Maine North served parts of Des Plaines, Glenview, and Niles. Opened in August 1970, Maine North closed in May 1981. The building is constructed in

brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the ba ...

style, and its architect was Donald Stillwaugh.

History

As student population declined, the decision came down to closing Maine East or Maine North. Maine East, the oldest school in the district, opened in 1929, but also had considerable numbers of alumni and students with the S.O.S. (Save Our School) campaign pushing to keep it open. On November 17, 1980, the school board voted, 4–3, to close Maine North by the following year, citing that it was not only the smallest school, but the least centrally located of the schools in the district. In October, the board voted to close the school at the end of the 1980–1981 school year."Maine North winds down"; 3 May 1981; ''Daily Herald''; accessed 13 April 2009
/ref> The building was subsequently sold along with the District's administrative building, which had its offices relocated to

Later uses

After its closing, Maine North was used for location shooting of the

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

movie '' The Breakfast Club,'' filmed in the spring of 1984. The library scenes in the movie were shot in the school gymnasium, where a set was constructed. A plaque downstairs in the building commemorates the movie being shot there. The school was also used as a training facility for the

Chicago Blitz The Chicago Blitz was a professional American football team that played in the United States Football League in the mid-1980s. They played at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois. Team history The Blitz were one of the twelve charter franchi ...

of the short-lived United States Football League and was renamed Blitz Park by head coach George Allen. It also later served as a mortuary college. In 1986, the school's interior was featured in another movie, '' Ferris Bueller's Day Off''.

Today

References

External links

Maine Township High School District 207

{{authority control Des Plaines, Illinois Educational institutions established in 1970 Educational institutions disestablished in 1981 Former high schools in Illinois Public high schools in Cook County, Illinois