History in Austin

In 2007, Chicago Public Schools converted Austin Community Academy High School at 231 North Pine Avenue into three separate schools: Austin Business and Entrepreneurship Academy, Austin Polytechnical Academy, and VOISE Academy.  The original Austin Community Academy High School opened in 1890 and was named after Henry W. Austin, a local real estate developer.  Today, Austin Polytechnical Academy and Austin Business and Entrepreneurship Academy share an athletic program.  The school's most famous alumni are six musicians known as the "Austin High Gang," specifically, early jazz legends Bud Freeman (saxophone), Jim Lanigan (string bass/tuba), Dick McPartland (banjo/guitar), Jimmy McPartland (cornet), Dave North (piano), and Frank Teschemacher (clarinet).  After hearing the 1922 jazz recordings of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, "they made a collective decision to pursue jazz careers," according to the Encyclopedia of Chicago.

Proviso East High School at 807 South First Avenue, Maywood, Illinois was opened in 1911 and is the successor to the original Proviso Township High School, which was split into East and West Proviso in 1958.  Its extremely lengthy list of notable alumni include Glenn “Doc” Rivers (coach of the Boston Celtics), Jim Brewer (who won an NBA championship with the Los Angeles Lakers), Michael Finley (who won an NBA title with the San Antonio Spurs), Ray Nitschke (who won three championships and two Super Bowls with the Green Bay Packers), Mike Douglas (host of his own famed television show), Carol Lawrence (singer and actress who played “Maria” in the original cast of “West Side Story”), John Prine (Grammy Award winning singer and songwriter), Dennis Franz (Emmy Award-winning actor), Fred Hampton (of the notorious Black Panther Party), Sheila Johnson (co-founder of Black Entertainment Television), Eugene Cernan (NASA astronaut and last man to walk on the moon), and Greg Foster (Olympic hurdler and silver medalist).

Proviso West High School opened in 1958 at 4701 West Harrison Street, Hillside, Illinois after being split off from what was then known as Proviso Township High School.  Its notable alumni include Flozell Adams (NFL All-Pro offensive tackle), Walter Parazaider (co-founder of the rock and roll group Chicago), Lee Archambault (who flew two separate Space Shuttle missions), and Jacquelyn Mitchard (journalist and author).

William H. "Billy" McSwiggin, a Chicago prosecutor who lived at 4946 West Washington Street, once vowed to bring Al Capone to justice for the murder of Joe Howard, but who later ended up on friendly terms with Capone, was inadvertently killed by members of the Capone Gang on April 27, 1926.  He made the mistake of bar-hopping in Cicero one evening with the O’Donnell brothers, who operated a rival bootlegging gang.  When Capone got word that the O’Donnells were roaming his territory, he sent a group of hitmen to greet them as they departed from Harry Madigan’s Pony Inn on Roosevelt Road.  Capone was unaware that McSwiggin was hanging out with the O'Donnells at the time.  McSwiggin was mowed down in a hail of machine gun fire while the O'Donnells managed to escape.  A series of grand juries were convened, but none could adduce enough evidence to pin the murder on Capone.

The true story of Mary Alice Quinn, Chicago’s so-called “Miracle Child,” may never be known, but the rumors, myths, and legends continue to thrive.  Every “source” tells a variation of the same general story, although the uncontested facts seem to be as follows:  Mary Alice Quinn was born on December 28, 1920, with some sort of terminal heart condition.  She died on November 8, 1935, at age 14.  At some point during her short life, she had some sort of religious experience and became devoted to St. Theresa.  After Mary Alice passed away, people from both Chicago and beyond believed that she possessed miraculous healing powers.  In order to deter these folks (and other curiosity seekers) from her grave, she was allegedly buried with some people whose last name was Reilly.  Her burial site was somehow discovered, at which point the cat was out of the bag, and her name was added to the tombstone.  Meanwhile, people from far and wide continued to make pilgrimages to her grave, which, to this day, is perpetually adorned with religious trinkets.  She is buried in Section 7 of Holy Sepulchre Cemetery here at 6001 West 111th Street, Alsip, Illinois.

Some say that Mary Alice cured disease when she was still alive, that her dying wish was to continue to cure people and to shower the world with rose petals, and that her room smelled like roses after she expired.  Some say that apparitions of Mary Alice appeared before south side Chicagoans several times during the 1930s and 1940s.  Some say that Mary Alice has continued to bestow miracle cures on seemingly lost causes.  Some say that her gravesite produces a strong scent of roses, year-round, even when no roses can be found in the vicinity.