It was built in 1884 to serve the growing neighborhood, as an influx of immigrants and Illinois' 1883 Compulsory Education Law had greatly increased its student population.

John J. Flanders, who became chief architect of the Chicago Board of Education in 1884, designed the school according to a standardized plan which was used throughout the city.

The Renaissance Revival school has an asymmetrical layout and includes several small side entrances, ornamental brickwork on its chimneys, and a metal cornice.

Flanders' design was a stark change from the symmetrical Italianate plans of earlier Chicago public schools.

The district's student population continued to increase in the following decades, and the Board of Education built an addition onto the school in 1898 as a result.