36 Facts About Susan Blow

Susan Elizabeth Blow was an American educator who opened the first successful public kindergarten in the United States.

Susan Blow was the daughter of Henry Taylor Blow and Minerva Grimsley Blow.

Susan Blow was the president of the Iron Mountain Railroad.

Susan Blow was a state senator, and he was a minister to Brazil and Venezuela.

The Blow children grew up in a deeply religious family.

Susan Blow's grandfather was Captain Peter Blow, the owner of the slave Dred Scott, who later challenged the slavery issue in court.

Susan Blow received her education from her parents, various governesses, private tutors, and schools, due to her family's social status.

Henry Susan Blow contributed funds to build a public school which was named after him.

At age eight, Susan Blow was enrolled at the William McCartney School in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Susan Blow attended classes there for the next two years.

Susan Blow tutored her younger brothers and sister, and she taught Sunday school at Carleton Presbyterian Church during this time.

Susan Blow met and fell in love with a soldier named Colonel William Cole, at age twenty, but her parents found him to be unsuitable.

Susan Blow's father took her to Washington, DC, and introduced her to another military man who was more to his liking.

Susan Blow was considered a member of the St Louis School, a literary, philosophical, and educational movement.

President Ulysses S Grant appointed Henry Blow to be the minister to Brazil in 1869, and Susan went with him as his secretary.

Susan Blow quickly learned Portuguese during the next fifteen months.

Susan Blow went abroad to Europe in 1870, along with her mother and siblings.

Susan Blow began studying the philosophies of Hegel and the American Transcendentalists while in Europe.

Susan Blow came across the kindergarten teaching methods of German idealist and philosopher Friedrich Frobel.

Susan Blow was inspired to bring these ideas to St Louis, and her father offered to set up a kindergarten as a private school.

Susan Blow felt that she was going to be able to serve the children better through the public school system.

In 1871 Susan Blow traveled to New York, where she spent a year being trained at the New York Normal Training Kindergarten, operated by Frobel devotee Maria Kraus-Boelte.

Susan Blow returned to St Louis in 1873 and opened the nation's first public kindergarten in Des Peres School in Carondelet, which by then had been annexed by the City of St Louis.

Susan Blow would tell stories from the Bible or myths and legends.

Susan Blow was able to open her school, in part, thanks to the support she received from William Torrey Harris, the superintendent of schools in St Louis.

Susan Blow believed a kindergarten system would improve the dropout rate, for children would be starting school at an earlier age.

In 1874 Susan Blow opened a training school to accommodate the in-demand kindergarten teachers.

Susan Blow was recognized with a star on the St Louis Walk of Fame, for her pioneering work.

Only ten years after opening her training school Susan Blow withdrew from teaching due to Graves' disease, which is a form of hyperthyroidism.

Susan Blow retired in 1884 and moved to Boston with Laura Fischer, who moved there to direct the kindergarten program at Boston Public Schools.

Susan Blow wrote a book on Dante in 1890, and five books on Frobel's theories, in her retirement.

Susan Blow helped to found the International Kindergarten Union, and she held a three-year appointment to the Teachers College of Columbia University.

Susan Blow moved to Cazenovia, New York, in 1895, in order to be near one of her sisters.

Susan Blow lectured on early childhood education all over the county, only stopping about a month before her death.

The organization did not last long, as many of Susan Blow's ideas were German in origin and the United States entered World War I the following year.

Susan Blow served on the advisory committee for the International Kindergarten Union and Committee of Nineteen and translated two volumes of Frobel's Mother Play in 1895.