History in Pullman

Corliss High School opened in 1974 at 821 East 103rd Street and was named after engineer George Henry Corliss, who invented the Corliss steam engine.  The school's most notable alumnus is former professional basketball player Darrell Walker, who played 12 seasons in the NBA, including 28 games with the 1993 NBA Champion Chicago Bulls.

On Tuesday, October 2, 2012, Edward Graney, a tactical flight officer for the Cook County Sheriff’s Police, identified something suspiciously lime-green in the middle of an otherwise dark patch of forestry, just east of stoney island avenue, across the street from the harborside international golf center.  suspecting an outdoor marijuana garden, he asked the pilot to veer back for a closer look.  a second pass initially confirmed his suspicions, and then the sight of someone hurriedly fleeing the scene sealed the deal.  graney alerted the chicago police department, which sent special narcotics officers back for an on-site inspection.

They discovered 1,500 marijuana plants, many standing ten feet tall, covering a terrain the size of two football fields in the middle of an uninhabited stretch of wetlands, surrounded on all sides by otherwise lawful shrubbery.  the contraband was being guarded (or monitored) by a “lookout” who left some blankets and food behind.  the police were unable to recall a larger outdoor marijuana crop ever being found in chicago, and they described the skunky smell as "very intense."

within days the entire area was bulldozed, burned, and covered with wood chips and “weed” killer.  the officers who supervised the demolition returned from the site driving twenty miles an hour on the expressway, listening to classic jethro tull albums, laughing at nothing in particular, and snacking on party-sized packages of doritos.  Meanwhile, the forecast called for a period of unprecedented autumn sobriety in the city of chicago.