Chicago (population 2.8 million) was established in the early 1800's along the banks of Lake MIchigan and the Chicago River. Chicago sits in the far northeastern portion of Illinois in the center of Cook County. Interstate Highways 55, 57, 90, and 94 all lead you to Chicago. Several Illinois Routes also lead to and from Chicago.

 

Chicago has been the home to several parochial schools throughout the years. Among them was Loretto Academy. This all-girls' Catholic high school was located on the city of Chicago's east side. The school building was erected at 65th Street and Blackstone Avenue in Chicago's Woodlawn neighborhood, near where Mount Carmel High School for Boys is located today.

 

The Academy was founded by a group of catholic nuns known as the Ladies of Loretto, who were invited by the Carmelite fathers to open a school for girls. The Lorettines did so with 30 students enrolled on January 6, 1906 at St. Cyril's Parish.

 

Loretto Academy remained all-girls' the entire time it was open, beginning as a grade and high school that accepted day & boarding students. In 1925, it discontinued the grade school, while the boarding practice ended in 1933.  The high school continued to serve the area for several more decades.

 

In 1962, the school accepted students from Loretto High School in the nearby Englewood neighborhood when it closed, which stopped the confusion of Loretto High School and Loretto Academy (both of which were all-girls' schools that were located on the south side, and run by the same order of nuns!).

 

Five years later in 1967, the school reached a three-fold event. First of all, it accepted more transfer students when St. Elizabeth (another all-girls' school) closed. Second, it posted the enrollment to a peak of over 350 students, the most in school history, and third, the school caught up with the changes in the neighborhood by having an all African-American student body. This was the result of people coming from the Deep South to find better opportunities in the Windy City, which had been begun as early as 1950.

 

Loretto Academy also accepted slow-learning students as the result of a program started in 1966 with the Archdiocese of Chicago. Those students could take advantage of getting a four-year diploma as well as working experience with retail giant Sears Roebuck for two years in a work-study program before looking for a job in a normal setting.

 

The school eventually consolidated with Mercy High School (another all-girls' school) in 1972 to form Unity High School. The Loretto Academy building was sold to a neighborhood organization, which offered adult education classes thru Kennedy-King College. The fate of the building is unknown at this time.