That year, 1991, its board of trustees—chaired by Frederic Wilbur Hickman[2]—voted to close the institution, file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, liquidate the assets, and dissolve the corporation.
[3][4] An organization based in Hammond, Indiana, uses the name "American Conservatory of Music" and identifies as the reorganized continuation of the Chicago institution.
[5] John James Hattstaedt, a musician who had taught piano in Detroit, Michigan and St. Louis, Missouri, moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1875.
In the later 20th century, the conservatory appeared to suffer from its lack of affiliation with a university, which would have provided access to a wider circle of programs and donors.
[3] Under the presidency of Vernon R. Nelson, the school moved to more modern quarters in the Stevens Building, 17 N. State Street, and attracted new faculty.
He gained several major gifts from donors and foundations, including a $1 million grant from the Marquette Charitable Trust.
[3] For over a century, many prominent artists, including some who had their musical training in Europe, taught master classes in piano and other instruments at the American Conservatory.
[25][28] In January 1987, the conservatory filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection; and shortly thereafter, Charles Moore, its president, resigned.
Henry Regnery – an industrialist, publisher of conservative books, benefactor, and amateur cellist – asked Vernon Nelson to step in as acting president.
Under the Deanship of E. Harvey Jewell, DMA (born 1942),[29][30][31][32][33] the conservatory strengthened its programs, raised entrance requirements, recruited prominent faculty, passed a rigorous accreditation review in 1988 by the National Association of Schools of Music,[34] and cleared a probationary status placed earlier by the Illinois State Board of Education on the Bachelor of Music Education program.
[35] After eighteen months, the conservatory had developed a survival plan and raised enough money to provide a balanced budget for three years.
Discussions were held with the Northwestern University School of Music, which had an interest in developing a Downtown presence to house the performance department with better access to members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Lyric Opera.
Then, when faced with financial failure from, among other things, no viable operating funds or other prospects for survival, the board closed the school in 1991 and filed for protection under Chapter 7 bankruptcy.