Looking Back to Inspire the Future

Parker spent a week celebrating the school’s opening day in 1901.

 

On Monday, October 7, 1901, Parker opened its doors to the first class of 134 students. This week—125 years later—the community of teachers and learners had the opportunity to celebrate the school’s quasquicentennial with swag, food, Morning Ex, and County Fair.

 

Commemorative moustaches, necklaces, and tattoos awaited students at arrival to kick off the week, with puppy chow distribution at dismissal mid-week. Junior Sam Solow created an oversized birthday card for all to sign, and the foodservice team baked nearly 1,250 celebratory cupcakes for students and employees to enjoy. Upper School students contributed to Parker’s social media accounts, Parker Family signs were available at the front desk for all to proudly display their affiliation with the school during this special year, and employees gathered for a barbecue to mark the occasion as well.

 

At a special Morning Ex on October 7, Principal Dan Frank addressed the audience, sharing, “This anniversary moment is also a moment to celebrate all the people who are here at Parker today and to honor the opportunity we each have to take up the responsibility to make Parker an even better, more creative, and more empathic and thoughtful school than it was before we got here. And to do so not only for ourselves, but also for the students, educators, and parents and guardians who will come to Parker in the future, people we may never know.” Frank’s complete remarks are available here.

 

Teachers Mary Catherine Coleman and Seth Bacon then spoke in their capacities as Parker’s archivists, sharing some fascinating stories uncovered during their multi-summer effort digitizing and cataloging the school's historical archives.

 

Coleman highlighted Parker’s long-standing commitment to student journalism and free speech, including the fact that Parker produced the first student-run newspaper, with students handling everything from writing to typesetting and printing. During World War I, when a student wrote an editorial favoring pacifism, several parents demanded the student’s expulsion. Principal Flora Cooke stood firm, asserting that penalizing student expression would betray the very democratic principles the school taught. Her defense of First Amendment rights ultimately earned her the gratitude and backing of the Parent Association.  

 

Coleman also shared an overview of historic guests that have presented at Morning Exercise through time, including:

Bacon’s research illuminated Parker's innovative approaches to learning. In the 1930s, Parker participated in the groundbreaking "Eight-Year Study," which measured progressive education against traditional schooling. The study revealed that Parker students not only excelled academically compared to control groups, but also demonstrated exceptional levels of intellectual curiosity, emotional maturity, and social responsibility. Evaluative rubrics from the era even assessed students on “freedom from racial and religious prejudice”—a remarkably forward-thinking standard for the 1930s.  

 

Bacon related that hands-on civics extended well beyond the classroom in the past by detailing a project from 1911 in which 8th grade students obtained permits, logged 647 hours, and built an entire up-to-code clubhouse on campus.

 

He shared photos from a service trip in 1965, when Parker students traveled three hours by bus to Rock Island, Illinois, to build sandbag barriers during a Mississippi River flood, earning a formal resolution of appreciation from the Illinois House of Representatives.  

 

Bacon also spoke of a long legacy of animal care integrated into the Parker curriculum. Through the decades, animal residents on campus included ponies, chickens, a raccoon, and, most famously, goats—including "Coco the Goat," who was introduced on stage during an MX and had her life updates regularly published in The Parker Weekly. Other memorable historical moments included 4th graders observing a gorilla at the Lincoln Park Zoo in the 1940s, a baby elephant visiting campus for a 1960s groundbreaking ceremony, and a 600-pound cow brought directly into a first-grade classroom.  

 

Using historical photos and vintage film footage, Coleman and Bacon treated the community to a clear visual journey of how the campus, courtyard, and student life have evolved over 125 extraordinary years.

 

After the MX, the audience enjoyed celebratory cupcakes in their classrooms and courtyard to commemorate this special occasion.

 

Enjoy photos from our 125th Anniversary Week Celebration here.