Susan Blow: Legendary Educator Opened the Country’s First Public Kindergarten
Des Peres School in St. Louis is now a museum
In 1873, Susan Elizabeth Blow opened the first public kindergarten in the United States in St. Louis and was a legendary educator in Missouri. She was born in an area now part of St. Louis on June 7, 1843.
She was a very passionate advocate of German educational ideas once she had traveled to Germany several years before she opened a kindergarten class.
Susan was raised in a religious home and educated by tutors and a New York private school. Susan was very interested in the ideas of German Idealist philosopher, Friedrich Froebel (founder of kindergarten, or children’s garden). She studied under German-American educator, Maria Kraus-Boelté for a year.
Susan also came from a wealthy family, so she could afford to travel to Europe.
Susan’s first public kindergarten was at Des Peres School in the Carondelet neighborhood of St. Louis. In 1874, she established a training school for kindergarten teachers. She taught at the school for 11 years without pay. She taught kindergarten in the mornings and trained teachers in the afternoon.
By 1883 every St. Louis public school had a kindergarten, making the city a model for…
