Karen Black, the actress...

...who appeared in Five Easy Pieces with Jack Nicholson, died at age 74. (I just like having an excuse to watch this scene.)

Ms. Black, born Karen Blanche Ziegler in Park Ridge, dropped out of Maine East High School in Des Plaines. (She later passed the equivalency tests and attended Northwestern University.)

Maine Township High School was built in 1929 to replace the original school, which was founded in 1902. The architecture of the main entrance, above, was inspired by Powell Library at UCLA, below.

For a short time, in 1958–1959, before Maine West was built, Maine Township enrolled approximately 7,000 students. The school day was split in two parts so that half attended in the morning and half in the afternoon. Wow! (I wonder if they were a power in sports.)

Other famous individuals who attended Maine East were Hillary Clinton, Harrison Ford and folk singer Steve Goodman.