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Glenbard high schools celebrate centennial with 100 years of memories

The faces have changed during the 100-year history of Glenbard High School District 87. The dress is less formal. The haircuts morphed from girls with conservative ponytails to both boys and girls with long hair to the poofiness of the 1980s and into the melting pot of manes today.

In hallways displaying a full history of the district, alumni immersed themselves in nostalgia for the sports championships and the status that having the ability to grow a teenage mustache could afford in high school. Before Glen Ellyn High School opened with about 50 students in the first freshman and sophomore classes, students attended Wheaton schools. The high school was in rented space in the DuPage County State Bank Building until Glenbard West opened in 1922.

On Saturday, hundreds of photos, yearbook-style, lined tables, walls and standing displays at Glenbard East High School showing all the graduating classes that followed that first year.

The images counted both the progression of the district and society as a whole. The first photos of basketball teams showed basketballs with laces. In a photo from 1926, then-Principal Fred L. Biester stood next to his Model T. An image of the class of 1929 showed them on a trip to "Municipal Airport" in Chicago. It was another 20 years before that field trip location became Midway International Airport.

Some of the history belongs to the masses. A television in the hall leading to the gymnasium played the 1986 film "Lucas." The movie, starring Corey Haim, was filmed at Glenbard West. The original ending involved the death of Lucas. Test audiences deemed it too sad, fueling a refilming of the warm weather-movie in the cold of February. Students were told to hold their breath so it didn't betray the different season, according to description of the events surrounding the film written on paper taped to the movie screen.

Another item, the flight suit of Dan Tani, a 1979 alumnus of Glenbard East, carried the history of his 120 days living and working on the International Space Station as a NASA flight engineer. Tani was just one of the notable alumni with memorabilia on display.

Cook County Clerk David Orr is an alumnus from 1962. Jeff Jarvis, creator of Entertainment Weekly magazine and author of "What Would Google Do?" is an alumnus from 1971.

Not all aspects of the district are 100 years old. Glenbard East opened in 1959. Glenbard North opened in 1968. Glenbard South opened in 1972.

  Glenbard High School District 87 celebrated its 100th anniversary with festivities at Glenbard East High School. Above is a photo of the Glenbard High School Senior Class of 1935. Daniel White/dwhite@dailyherald.com
  Bob and Marilyn Brown of the Glenbard (now Glenbard West) Class of 1957 attend District 87's celebration of its 100th anniversary at Glenbard East High School. Daniel White/dwhite@dailyherald.com
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