Ashton H Le Bourgeois

Letters of Susan Elizabeth Blow to her friend Mary Collier Hitchcock Ashton H Le Bourgeois

Susan Blow is best remembered as the young woman who started the first successful public kindergarten in the United States. Captivated by the theory of the German philosopher Friedrich Froebel, who conceived an education program for young children, Susan decided to put his ideas into action in St. Louis in 1873. Susan enjoyed the support of two important men in St. Louis -- her father Henry Taylor Blow and the educator William Torrey Harris. Henry Blow grew rich in mining and in manufacturing paint. He entered politics, served in the Missouri Senate and the United States House of Representatives, opposed slavery, and backed and befriended Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses Grant. William Harris, just a few years older than Susan, was already the superintendent of schools in St. Louis when she presented her proposal to establish a kindergarten. Harris who made his school system a model for the rest of the country, remained in the post until 1880 and eventually became the US commissioner of education. He eagerly accepted Susan's proposal. Mary Collier and Susan Blow knew each other all their lives. Their fathers were business partners and close friends. When Mary married Henry Hitchcock, she and Susan kept up their relationship, bound by a deep interest in religion and German philosophy, particularly the work of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hitchcock, who marched with General Sherman in the Civil War and later practiced law in St. Louis, became Susan's friend and supporter as well. The letters that Susan wrote to Mary reveal the seriousness of their thinking, the compatibility of their views and the depth of their friendship.