#Elmhurst

[greendayauthority]

McGregor's, Elmhurst, IL, 24 May 1992

[wanderingnewyork]

#Fire_escapes in #Elmhurst, #Queens.

[20th-century-railroading]

Pigs at Elmhurst by Stan Ujka Via Flickr: SD40-2 #6813 leads a UP SD40-2 and an eastbound piggyback train at Elmhurst, IL in 1986. A westbound coal empty is in the background.

[franklloydwrightfan]

Prairie peeping. #franklloydwright #architecture #architecturephotography #fbhendersonhouse #elmhurst #illinois #prairiestyle #houses #flwsites #wrightsites #fllw (at F.B. Henderson House) https://www.instagram.com/p/CqVPBtLrkWh/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[thepastisalreadywritten]

It is one of the country’s most prestigious public schools, a historic building on the edge of a pretty town that has educated everyone from poets to comedians – and now counts a future queen among its alumni.

Since it was founded in 1843 for the purpose of educating the sons of clergymen, the £42,930-per-year Marlborough College has seen artist William Morris, the poets John Betjeman and Siegfried Sassoon, and Samantha Cameron, wife of the former prime minister David Cameron, as well as funnyman Jack Whitehall pass through its halls and corridors.

And in 1996 – seven years after it became fully co-educational, having previously only admitted girls in the sixth form - it welcomed a princess-in-waiting, even if few might have guessed it at first.

The then 14-year-old Kate Middleton arrived in Marlborough, Wiltshire, as a shy and lanky teen, having moved after enduring alleged bullying at her previous school, Downe House.

It would prove to be an entrée into a world, which would eventually see her rubbing shoulders with a notably privileged group of students and see her secure a place at the ancient St Andrews University – where Prince William happened to be studying.

Such a trajectory seemed unlikely when she first arrived in rural Wiltshire, however.

‘She had very little confidence,’ recalled her dorm mate Gemma Williamson, who described the new arrival who joined in the middle of the year as 'thin and pale.'

Kate’s house tutor Joan Gall said she was suffering from eczema due to stress.

‘When she arrived, she was very quiet. Coming into a big school like Marlborough was difficult, but she settled in quickly.’

Miss Gall previously said: ‘It was like a big, happy family. We would do things like bake cakes and watch videos.’

Certainly, the girl who would go on to become a celebrated royal beauty did not initially catch the eye of male pupils, who would crudely give passing girls a score out of ten as they made their way to supper. Kate was given a mere two.

Yet during her four years at Marlborough, the future Princess of Wales blossomed into a beautiful, sought after young woman as well as an accomplished one who excelled at hockey and who would go on to become co-captain of the tennis team.

In fact, unlike her time at Downe House, Kate felt at home from the start of her time at Marlborough, where she joined the school's cosy all-girls boarding house, Elmhurst.

Contemporaries recall her as the perfect pupil, listening to her Walkman, watching Friends and indulging in Marmite sandwiches.

Meanwhile, housemistress Ann Patching recalled her former pupil's love of lasagne and pasta bakes but said that 'Kate always stayed very slim.’

Naturally kind hearted, she quickly gained a close circle of friends, among them her peers on the hockey team, one of whom accompanied her on a trip to Ibiza to recover from her heartbreak after she briefly broke up with Prince William in 2007.

Unfazed by her popularity however, she remained a responsible role model and was never caught with illicit booze unlike her friends, one of whom once confided:

'A group of us used to sneak off to Reading to go drinking but she would never join us.'

In fact, Kate was only charged with one lapse in good behaviour when she threw up on the train home after an all-night champagne and dance party hosted by a member of her hockey team.

It was after a hockey tour to Argentina, friends recall – followed by a family trip to the Caribbean - that a then 16-year-old Kate returned to the school sixth firm newly transformed.

‘She was an absolute beauty,‘ according to friend Gemma, who says 'boys now fancied her rotten.’

Among them was the comedian Jack Whitehall, who attended Marlborough a few years below Kate and who admitted in an interview that she was his first crush.

He later joked of being jealous of the attention the princess received from the school, venting:

''I went to the same secondary school as Kate Middleton and she's someone they like to talk about.

I've been sending them a letter each year saying maybe now it's time to put me in the school prospectus or on the walls. I feel like I'm their dirty little secret.'

Nonetheless, despite becoming a favoured among the boys, the princess did not have lengthy dalliances with the opposite sex.

'I got the distinct impression that Catherine wanted to save herself for someone special,' said Gemma previously.

Her first kiss is believed to have been with Woody, the elder brother of Alice St John Webster - one of Kate's closest friends.

She also reportedly had a brief romance with Harry Blakelock, captain of the rugby team, which fizzled out after he left school, leaving Kate 'heartbroken.'

There’s no question that Kate made quite an impact on her school, later hailed as 'Person most likely to be loved by everybody' in her yearbook, when she departed on her gap year before heading to University of St Andrews after achieving two As and a B in her A Levels.

By then, she had been followed to Marlborough by her younger sister Pippa who, untainted by earlier experiences of bullying, was seen by contemporaries as the more naturally confident half of the Middleton pair.

She enrolled at the same boarding house as her older sister and joined the hockey team, yet there was little in the way of sibling rivalry according to contemporaries.

In fact, along with friend Alice St John Webster, they are remembered as a tight trio.

'Alice, Pippa and Kate were a very tight group and all best friends from the age of 14 upwards. It could be a bit suffocating. They did everything together,' one friend said.

Riding a wave of success in the sporting and social spheres at prep school, Pippa won an all-rounder scholarship to Marlborough and became captain of the hockey team.

Unlike Kate's meek start at the college, Pippa took every opportunity to make an impression at the school, with one contemporary saying:

'Pippa was slightly tough and, back then, the one with the charisma. No one would ever think of bullying her.'

She was given the unfortunate nickname 'pan face' because of her supposed flat features but was not put off trying to impress her male peers, even when playing sport.

'My focus is on winning and making sure that my hair — fashioned into a slick Sporty Spice “up do” — is just right. Did I mention boys watching?' she wrote in the Spectator.

Seen as the 'alpha' sister in contrast to 'kind hearted, home-loving' Kate, Pippa 'loved being the centre of attention' according to one contemporary.

She was chatty, funny and louder than her sister but, despite her sociable nature, she followed Kate's example of dodging drinking and smoking.

Housemistress Ann Patching later described the relationship between the well-behaved pair saying:

'Pippa was good at everything and sharper academically, but I don’t think Catherine ever resented that.'

Twenty three years after Kate departed for the last time, meanwhile, there is no question that the school - with its serene setting amid two lakes, and boasting a competition swimming pool, cricket pavilion and international-standard athletics track - remains a popular destination for well-heeled parents.

According to the Which school guide, competition for places at the school increased after it became known as the alma mater of the Princess of Wales.

Nor has it stopped it being mired in the occasional scandal.

In 2016, some of the older pupils brought in a stripper to perform on the grounds, an act later branded 'inappropriate' by the school.

The boarding school was also criticised last year for not carrying out necessary safeguarding checks on teachers, after an Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) report revealed that checks including barred lists for prior criminal offences were not completed.

A spokesperson for the school said at the time:

'Since our compliance inspection, the college has upgraded the record-keeping processes highlighted in the ISI report.

'We have been keeping our parents informed and are looking forward to an early re-inspection.'

None of this is likely to deter the wealthy elite, many of whom will doubtless be anxious for their own offspring to attend a school that prepped the Princess of Wales for her royal calling – and if rumour has it, may also be set to educate her offspring.

[kodachrome-net]

Neon detail, York Theatre marquee, Elmhurst, Illinois, March 2013

[meeshnut]

Iced Coffee this morning.

[aspiringbelle]

Trigger warning: Eating disorders, bullying

As someone who is somewhat of a balletomane (not as much as others here), this disturbs me. I know it can be intense doing ballet, but I don't want to see dancers harming themselves by denying themselves food...and I don't like seeing dancers being cut down so. (In one case, more literal than most.) I may not be able to see the documentary, but this is disturbing as is.

[findmeaplaceinnewyorkcity]

Queens Center Mall, Elmhurst, Queens

[postav54]

Refocus🌱

[nycreligion]

Daily spiritual guidance of Lenape in Elmhurst, Queens

Native American Woman drawn in Journal of a Voyage to New York, 1679-1680 by Jasper Dankers and Peter Sluyter. The masks and idols Divine power arises in people’s lives into various ways. For Lenape, ritual specialists—shamans—could offer themselves as containers of the divine for ceremonial devotion. Brainerd’s described a mask worn by Lenape ritual specialists that is similar to masks of…

[greendayauthority]

[wanderingnewyork]

Buildings in #Elmhurst, #Queens.

[20th-century-railroading]

CGW #143, Elmhurst IL, April 1968

Halted by a stop indication at the IC crossing, brakeman is approaching the spring switch at the end of double track.

196804C10-30ef

[franklloydwrightfan]

Prime prairie. #franklloydwright #architecture #architecturephotography #fbhendersonhouse #elmhurst #illinois #prairiestyle #houses #flwsites #wrightsites #fllw (at F.B. Henderson House) https://www.instagram.com/p/CnHcUM3LCLb/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[chicagotimesmagazine]

Justice Slams Door On Local Hood Found With Firearm

By Chicago Times Magazine – July 23, 2024 The iron gates of the DuPage County Jail clanged shut a little tighter today for Antwaion Edwards, a two-bit criminal with a history longer than my editor’s bar tab. Judge George Ford, a man who’s seen more mugs than a coffee shop, denied Edwards bail after he was pinched for packing heat – a semi-automatic, no less – which ain’t exactly peashooter…