J. Sterling Morton High School West

J. Sterling Morton West High School (Morton West or JSM for short) is a four-year public high school in Berwyn, Illinois. It is a part of J. Sterling Morton High School District 201. In 1958, the school opened to 2,359 students. The building fronts along 2400 block of Home Ave. Constructed on former farmland, Morton West sported a state-of-the-art, two story campus style structure that has about nine wings designed to evenly distribute student traffic throughout the building. Morton West school is the second newest building in the district (the first being the Morton Freshmen Center built in 2004).The district and its schools are named after Julius Sterling Morton because he was friends with Cicero resident and fur trader Portus Baxter Weare.In the high school district students living west of Ridgeland Avenue are zoned to Morton West; areas west of Ridgeland Avenue include most of Berwyn, Forest View, Stickney, and Lyons.HistoryAs early as 1926, District 201 had plans to open a second high school in Berwyn, going as far as to purchase the property needed. However, after years of trying to convince voters of a need, voters narrowly defeated the US$600,000 bond issue needed for construction.In 1943, the issue of adding a second school again was raised, with a proposal to build it on the site of Gage Farm in Berwyn. While the issue was raised, it was realized that any planning would need to wait until after the war. In 1953, a US$5.9 million bond issue was approved by voters for construction of a new school and athletic fields in Berwyn.