Kinkaid High School - Kinkaidian Yearbook (Houston, TX)

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he group met daily around the dining room table of the Kinkaid home, a five room frame cottage at the corner of Smith and Calhoun. Classes continued for two years until, in 1905, instruction was discontinued because of the birth of Williani Kinkaid. Vlfhen Mrs. Kinkaid resumed teaching, she had moved into a new house. It was a one-story cottage on the northeast corner of San Jacinto and Elgin. From this second beginning, the founding of the Kinkaid School is dated, for its formative years were spent in this location. Each day parents living in the neighborhood, a leading residential area. walked their children to school. This was a convenience not to be minimized in citing causes of subsequent growth. Transportation then was not easy, as paved st1'eets were considered a luxury rather than a necessity. Nevertheless, occasional horse and buggies fautomobiles were a rarityj, carrying students from the more distant, newly opened VVestmoreland addition, drew up in front of the cottage on the dirt road that was San Jacinto. Boys with their ties and high starched collars, knee length trousers and long sox, girls in full skirted dresses with long tresses and huge hair ribbon hows alighted. ln 1908, the school consisted of two grades, of seven pupils each, that met in the cottage living room. When one group recited, the other studied. Both delighted in the arrival of the vegetable man, for work was interrupted. Mrs. Kinkaid's return to the room promptly restored order. A natural dis- ciplinarian, who could command attention with a look or a gesture, she tolerated no foolishness. Typical of the rather Spartan regime of those early days were the two boys appointed to keep fires burning in the wood stoves. Although Mrs. Kinkaidis ideal was a small primary school, at the request of parents she expanded her classes, for she considered her function to be one of service to and cooperation with her patrons. ln 1910, with three grades and thirty children, she enlisted the aid of an additional Teacher, Mrs. Robert Gordon Ballinger, who remained with the school for twenty years. The fourth and fifth grades and a kindergarten were added in 1914. ln that year Mrs. Kinkaid asked Mrs. W. G. Smiley to establish the intermediate department. Mrs. Smiley, whose husband was superintendent of public schools, had previously taught in the city schools with Mrs. Kinkaid. She was a positive person with a deep fund of knowledge and a wide interest in civic affairs. Although she was on the staff for only a few years, Mrs. Smiley has remained a loyal friend of Kinkaid.

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o provide space for the additional grades it was necessary to enlarge school facilities. Therefore lVlrs. Kinkeaid borrowed 352500, had the five room cottage raised and five rooms built underneath it. The staff was enlarged to seven, Mrs. Kinkaid gave up teaching to run the school. For two more years the Kinkaid family continued to occupy the house, but at the end of that time the growing school pushed the family out. There was, however, an apartment of four rooms in the house on San Jacinto that was rented out. Even this arrangement lasted only two years longer, because by that time the school needed the entire building. A sixth grade, added in l9l7, became the first class to graduate from Kinkaid to junior high school at South End, which was located in the building that is now San Jacinto High School. With the six grades, the school was considered complete. Daily routine at Kinkaid was well regulated. Students usually arrived early, around 8:15. The boys played games in the side yard until 8:30 while the girls chatted on the hack steps or under the huge magnolia tree, well carved with names. At the clap of Mrs. Kinkaid fshe never used a school bell, but assembled the group and brought order by use of her handsj the children gathered in line to march into the building. The lower grades would proceed to their respective rooms on the first floor. The higher grades would march up the steps that were on the outside of the building. The day began with a reading from the Bible, for lVlrs. Kinkaid was a devoutly religious woman who believed she was doing Cod's work in carry- ing on her school. Instruction and recitation followed. Subjects and teaching methods were very similar to those used for corresponding grades today. A firm grounding in the three R's was the basis of the elementary classes. Spanish or French, English, history, and mathematics were emphasized in the intermediate grades. For all classes Mrs. Kinkaid put great stress on citizenship and character building. A fifteen minute recess would break the morning. To the strains of the triumphal march from HAida,,' the children moved in orderly lines from the building. Once outside, it was time for uphysical culturew that is, calisthenics. Lunch furnished the next break from the class schedule. The back steps, the side yard, and magnolia tree became popular spots as lunches from home were brought out.