Hadley Technical High School - Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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shorthand and shoemakmg were made avallable to the chlldren of the c1t1zens of St Louls Several years later ln 1892 the first busl ness courses for hlgh school pupils were mtroduced by Central Hlgh School The two courses offered were bookkeepmg and short hand In 1904 the McK1nley and Yeatman Hlgh Schools began to offer manual tram mg and domestlc sclence courses to hlgh school pu p1lS of St Louls Hlghly Slg mficant to vocatlonal educa tlon not only 1n St Louls but on a natxonal scale was the estabhshment 1n 1907 of Davld Ranken J School of Mechan1cal Trades The followmg ex cerpts from the w1ll of DaV1d Ranken Jr best express h1s phllosophy on vocatlon many years I have been 1m pressed w1th the facts that too llttle attentlon IS glven to the 1nstruct1on of boys 1n the mechamcal trades I am satlsfied that there IS need of an 1nst1tut1on the obJect of whlch shall be ed ucatlon and 1nstruct1on 1n the ordmary mechamcal trades and ln whxch boys especlally may be taught the dlgmty of labor I have therefore formed an 1ntent1on of endow1ng an ln stltutlon ln the City of St Louls and the State of M1s sourl 1n whlch boys and men may be tramed to hablts of lndustry and economy Thls pnvately e n d o w e d school has become one of ! ! 7 ' - . ' . , . Y r'7 7 '! al education: Whereas, for , . . . 9 I ! ' YY , . . .

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Schools for the total prxce of 3280000 Thxs speclal prlce mcluded an agreement ln Writing that the Board should provlde technlcal and technologlcal mstruc t1on for those engaged xn and preparmg for mechanl cal or other pursults and should assoclate the name of Henry Ames w1th such educatlonal purpose forever The Board agreed bought and assumed 1tS new obl1 gatlon Sxnce most of the students worked durlng the day evemng school classes were scheduled the Hrst term opemng on October 29 1868 Calvln M Wood ward was the first Prmcxpal He later became known as the father of manual tram establlshmg the St Louls Manual Tralnlng School 1n 1879 Doctor Woodward had become assoclated wlth the Washmgton Un1vers1ty and wxth 1ts cooperatlon he was able to start the manual tra1n1ng school However hls work as Prlnclpal of the OFallon Polytechnlc Instl tute was restralned by a lack of understandmg from hls superlors By the year of 1890 the St Louls Board of Educatlon thought well enough of Dr Woodwards manual tra1n1ng school to authorlze an experlmental manual tra1n1ng class at the L Ouverture Elem e n t a r y School It was only a short tlme before thls klnd of ed ucatlon was recognlzed as worthwhlle and grade school classes mn sewmg printmg , . . ,, . ' 79 7 ! D , . Y Y , . . ' ll ' - ing because of his work in ' 1 , . . 7 . Y Y Y Y

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the leadmg schools ln the natlon Another xmportant step ln St Louls vocatxonal program came 1nd1rectly ln 1917 Two men who l1ved IU the East Dr Charles A Prosser a lawyer and school teacher, and Dr Charles R Allen a teacher of chemls try worked together to pro mote vocatlonal educatxon for the natlon Thelr success came w1th the passage of the Smxth Hughes Act by Congress ln 1917 Thxs act provxded federal funds for state departments of educa tlon who ln turn were to use the money for vocatlonal educatlon m the schools m couragement St Lou1s made plans for the future The next step occured when classes for boys and glrls who left school at an early age ln order to go to work were orgamzed These class es were called contlnuatlon classes and began ln 1919 Foul years later IH 1923 the Jefferson Vocatlonal School was formed by com b1n1ng the varlous trade and commercxal classes of the school system After three years of operatlon the Jef ferson School was changed to an lntermedlate school and was renamed the Franklm School Later 1n the year of 1926 the Board of Educatlon authorxzed Mr Thomas E Spencer to or gamze a new vocatlonal school It was on December 14 that the Board created prov1s1onally 'the Vocatlon al School based on the fol their state. With this en-