Crane Junior College, the first city college in Chicago, was founded in 1911 to be a
junior college for the graduates of the nearby
Crane High School. During the
Great Depression, the financially strapped
Chicago Board of Education considered closing the school but after arguments from
Clarence Darrow, it remained open as the
Theodor Herzl Junior College, named for the founder of the modern
Zionism movement. During
World War II, Herzl Junior College was leased by the
United States Navy and used in training thousands of Navy personnel as a part of the
Electronics Training Program. In 1968, at the request of the local community, the school was renamed Malcolm X College and relocated to its present site at 1900 W. Jackson Blvd. The Douglas Blvd. site no longer serves as a college campus and is currently operated by the
Chicago Public Schools as Theodor Herzl Elementary School. In 1971 a modernist inspired campus building based on Miesian design standards was built by architect Gene Summers at 1900 West Van Buren. Gene Summers was an assistant to the esteemed Mies Van Der Rohe and as such the former Malcolm X college campus had a look similar to the IIT campus designed by Rohe. The campus was demolished in 2016 to make way for a Chicago Blackhawk's training facility. In 2016, the City of Chicago built a $251 million state-of-the-art facility and 1,500-space parking garage adjacent to the
United Center, a facility to train students for careers in healthcare. The 500,000 square-foot campus would offer healthcare and general education courses, a virtual hospital, simulated healthcare technology, a dental hygiene clinic, smart technology in every classroom, a conference center, a daycare center and a 1,500-space parking garage. The campus also housed the new City Colleges of Chicago School of Nursing. The new facility was announced in 2012, completed in 2016, and opened on January 7, 2016. ==Academics==