Maryville Academy is a child care organization rooted in Catholic teaching. Located in

Des Plaines, Illinois Des Plaines is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 60,675. The city is a suburb of Chicago and is located just north of O'Hare International Airport. It is situated on and is named after the ...

, Maryville was founded in 1883.

History

Originally known as St. Mary's Training School for Boys, the facility was the vision of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdio ...

Patrick A. Feehan and served as an

orphanage An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or a ...

for many decades. Following a rebuild after a massive fire in 1899, St. Mary's new director,

Reverend The Reverend is an honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and church traditions. ''The Reverend'' is correctly ...

James Doran, opened the facility to girls in an effort to reunite orphaned brothers and sisters. Separate dormitories were built to accommodate this change. Renamed Maryville Academy in 1950, the shift from orphanage to a facility for children who experienced trauma was gradual, over a period of approximately 25 years and starting shortly after the close of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, a time when many orphanages in the United States transitioned to being

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of " room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exte ...

s. Under

Monsignor Monsignor (; it, monsignore ) is an honorific form of address or title for certain male clergy members, usually members of the Roman Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" ...

George Halpin's leadership, who directed Maryville from 1954 to 1970, the original massive dormitories were razed and replaced by more modern structures, a change that reflected the declining population of Maryville at the time. Despite all the generally positive changes, Maryville was soon facing significant operating deficits and was threatened with closure. The appointment in 1970 of

Father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fathe ...

John P. Smyth, a former all-American basketball player at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main c ...

, as director was significant as he overhauled the way Maryville was managed, reducing costs and changing the facility to a more home-like setting that was conducive to the facility's newly acquired role as a home for children who experienced trauma and neglect. Smyth presided over Maryville until 2004. Shortly before the end of Smyth's tenure, Maryville was adversely affected by a resident's suicide, reports of physical and sexual assaults among residents and charges of poor accounting. Subsequently, the State of Illinois removed residents from the facility, a move which almost resulted in Maryville being permanently closed. Following the appointment of Sister Catherine Ryan as executive director 2004, sweeping changes were made in how residents were cared for, and in 2007, the state returned residents to Maryville.

Pete Townshend Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is co-founder, leader, guitarist, second lead vocalist and principal songwriter of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s and 1970s. Towns ...

became involved with the academy and, between 1997 and 2002, he played five benefit shows, raising at least $1,600,000. His 1998 album '' A Benefit for Maryville Academy'' was produced to support the activities of the academy.

Current activities

Maryville operates six service areas with campuses in Bartlett, Chicago and Des Plaines:

References

External links

Daily Herald
''Maryville at 125: A look back, and ahead'' {{coord, 42.0669, -87.8975, type:landmark_region:US-IL, display=title Des Plaines, Illinois 1883 establishments in Illinois Catholic schools in Illinois Educational institutions established in 1883