History

In the late 1940's, as the population in the LaSalle area was gaining momentum, plans were underway for the construction of two new elementary schools. Seventy-Ninth Street and Ninety-Third Street Schools were the first to be built since 1931. They were constructed in 1950.

 

Both buildings were identical in design and included the most ultra-modern and functional features in school construction. For the first time in elementary school history, a school library with a full-time librarian was established in each school. Known today as media centers, these two schools were pioneers in the development of an integral part of the school program.

 

-- from School Bells Ring, compiled and written by Patricia Wilson Rice

 

The first principal of 79th Street School was Miss Edith L. Johnson.