 The school was named after Edward Nelson Woodruff, who served as mayor of Peoria off and on from 1903 to 1945.The Woodruff campus was built at 1800 Northeast Perry Avenue; on what was called the North Side when the school was built, but is now in the northeast part of the city.Perry Avenue was removed in front of the school during expansion of the high school in the late 1970s, but the school's address was not changed.