Lane Technical High School Collection

Albert Grannis Lane Manual Training School opened in Chicago in September 1908 at the corner of Sedgwick and Division. A year later, its name was changed to Lane Technical High School. The school was named for Albert G. Lane (1841-1906), an educator and longtime advocate for manual training and technical education in schools. Lane's numerous accomplishments included serving, at age seventeen, as the youngest principal in the history of Chicago Public Schools and serving as superintendent of schools of both Chicago and Cook County.

In the 1910s and 1920s, Lane offered courses in carpentry, cabinet making, and wood turning, in addition to offering a machine shop, electric shop, and print shop. It hosted a night school that enrolled 6000 men and women in these areas as well as sewing, garment making, and other classes. In 1929 it established a music program and became the first Chicago school to offer a four year concentration in music.

In 1930, as a result of the school's growth, ground was broken on a new building at Addison Street and Western Avenue. Construction took longer than normal because of the economic conditions brought on by the Great Depression, but the building was completed and dedicated in 1934. In 1958 Lane moved to a closed admissions policy and stopped offering remedial courses.

In 1971, Lane began to admit girls, marking another significant milestone in the school's history. In 2020, Lane Tech's local school council voted to replace the Native American symbol that had been used as the school's mascot for over a century.

At the beginning of 2022, Lane Tech's website stated that "Lane Tech is a large, coeducational seventh through twelfth grade public high school, offering students a college preparatory curriculum, with particular emphasis placed upon the technological aspects of a modern education." It has an enrollment of over 4200 students, making it Chicago's largest high school.