J. Sterling Morton High School West
| J. Sterling Morton High School West | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Address | |
|
2400 Home Ave. Berwyn, Illinois 60402 United States |
|
| Coordinates | 41°50′49″N 87°48′01″W / 41.846936°N 87.800227°WCoordinates: 41°50′49″N 87°48′01″W / 41.846936°N 87.800227°W |
| Information | |
| School type | public secondary |
| Opened | 1958 |
| School district | J. Sterling Morton HS Dist. 201 |
| Superintendent | Michael Kuzniewski |
| Principal | Joshua McMahon |
| Faculty | 218 |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Gender | coed |
| Enrollment | 3,184 |
| Average class size | 19.3 |
| Campus | suburban |
| School colour(s) |
maroon green |
| Athletics conference | West Suburban Conference |
| Nickname | Mustangs |
| Average ACT scores | 17.8 |
| Website | http://www.morton201.org/schools/west.asp |
J. Sterling Morton West High School (Morton West or JSM for short) is a four-year public high school in Berwyn, Illinois. It is a part of J. Sterling Morton High School District 201. In 1958, the school opened to 2,359 students. The building fronts along 2400 block of Home Ave. Constructed on former farmland, Morton West sported a state-of-the-art, two story campus style structure that has about nine wings designed to evenly distribute student traffic throughout the building. Morton West school is the second newest building in the district (the first being the Morton Freshmen Center built in 2004).
The district and its schools are named after Julius Sterling Morton because he was friends with Cicero resident and fur trader Portus Baxter Weare.
In the high school district students living west of Ridgeland Avenue are zoned to Morton West; areas west of Ridgeland Avenue include most of Berwyn, Forest View, Stickney, and Lyons.
As early as 1926, District 201 had plans to open a second high school in Berwyn, going as far as to purchase the property needed. However, after years of trying to convince voters of a need, voters narrowly defeated the US$600,000 bond issue needed for construction.
In 1943, the issue of adding a second school again was raised, with a proposal to build it on the site of Gage Farm in Berwyn. While the issue was raised, it was realized that any planning would need to wait until after the war. In 1953, a US$5.9 million bond issue was approved by voters for construction of a new school and athletic fields in Berwyn.
As late as March 1958, the school board set Ridgeland Avenue as the attendance boundary for the schools, sending 45% of then-Morton students to the new school. The opening of the new school also brought an end to three decades of split shift attendance.
One early logistics problem with the new school was the requirement for some students to cross the Illinois Central Railroad tracks near the school. City of Berwyn worked with the railroad to create a pedestrian underpass to accommodate students who would need to cross the tracks.
...
Wikipedia