The average poor child in 1860s St. Louis completed
three years of school before being forced to begin work at age 10. Susan Elizabeth Blow
addressed that problem by offering education to children earlier. Applying Friedrich
Froebel's theories, she opened the United States' first successful public kindergarten at
St. Louis' Des Peres School in 1873. Blow taught children in the morning and teachers in
the afternoon. By 1883 every St. Louis public school had a kindergarten, making the city a
model for the nation. Devoting her life to early education, Susan Blow was instrumental in
establishing kindergartens throughout America.
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Carolyn George, President, Susan E. Blow Foundation,
accepted the award for Ms. Blow. |