Soldan High School - Scrip Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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Tl-IE SCRIP one hundred years previous to the celebration. The year is also momentous as marking the beginning of the expansion of the educational facilities of St. Louis to a degree that challenges the admiration and imagination of the historian. In January, 1904, there was only one high school in St. Louis, the Central, accommodating a high school enrollment of over three thousand students. Withiii that same year of 1904, there were opened two new high schools--the McKinley and the Yeatman-to meet the needs of a rapidly growing high school population. At the same time a farfseeing Board of Education acquired building sites in the western part of the city, in a sparsely settled region on the southeastern edge of a district known as Cabanne , For several years following the close of the Fair, the region west of Union avenue and southward to Forest Park was so thinly sprinkled with buildings that one could walk south on Union avenue and keep in sight the towers of Washington University and the few remaining vestiges of the structures which, a short time before, had housed the great St. Louis Fair. On this remote and littleftraveled avenue there slowly rose two new beautiful school buildings, the one known as the Clark School, opened in 1907, and the other known only as the Union Avenue High School, until it received its official name a year before it was completed. A It is customary in St. Louis for the Board of Education to perpetuate the memory of some great public character, national or local, by bestowing that name upon a newly' erected public school. In keeping with that custom, the Board had before it a number of suggestions for the naming of the new Union Avenue High School. Petitions poured in, some favoring one suggestion, some another. The patriotic societies did their part to such an extent that approval and disapproval of several names took on the spirit of a mild controversy. The Superintendent and the members of the Board were perplexed amidst the petitions and varying recommendations. Suddenly a great and tragic event overwhelmed the public school system and the city of St, Louis. On March 27, 1908, occurred the death of Dr. Frank Louis Soldan, Superintendent of the St. Louis Public Schools and one of Americas foremost edu' cators. On the occasion of his funeral, conducted in the Central High School, a member of the Board of Education spoke these words: It will be the duty of the Board of Education to see to it that his name shall not be forgotten. Two weeks later, by unanimous vote of the members of thc Board, the new high school on Union avenue was officially named The Frank Louis Soldan High School. The school opened on September 8, 1909. The iirst significant event after the opening was the public observance of Founder's Day, October 20, 1909, the anniversary of the birth of the great citizen and educator for whom the school was named. On this day was presented to the school the Kissack portrait of Dr. Soldan, which dignihes and adorns the nrst floor corridor. The address of Superintendent Ben Blewett, life-long friend and professional associate of Dr. Soldan, was the feature of the program. A stenographic report of his speech was taken down by a pupil, and the address has been preserved among the records of the school, appearing in the first issue of the Soldan F i s A Xll QT? i j K ,, s .cs '

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Ti-IE ti Q c 'v SCRIP Scrip. It is Etting that this appreciation of the life, work, and influence of Dr. Soldan, as given by Superintendent Blewett on the occasion referred to, be inserted here for the infomation and inspiration of a new generation of Soldan students. The tablet to be placed in the portal of this building, devoted to public education, will bear the following inscription: IN RECOGNITION OF THE DISTINGUISHED SERVICES RENDERED T0 THE CAUSE OF EDUCATION AND IN TESTIMONY DF THEIR ESTEEM FOR A LIFE THAT SUB' ORDIIIATED PERSONAL COMFORT AND GAIN T0 A LOFTY CONCEPTION OF DUTY OF A PUBLIC OFFICIAL, TO IMPRESS UPON THE YOUTH DF THE CITY THE SUPREME VALUE OF CIVIC VIRTUE, THE BOARD DF EDUCATION OF THE CITY OF ST. LOUIS HAS NAMED THIS THE FRANK LUUIS SOLDAN HIGH SCHOOL, AND HIS ASSOCIATES AND FRIENDS HAVE ERECTED THIS TABLET. This is not an empty tribute of adulation paid under the stress of an excitement caused by the tragic death of a public oihcial. It is the deliberate expression of an admiration and love that are the growth of years of intimate acquaintance with the purposes and acts of a life lived in this city from youth to mature manhood. Superintendent Soldan was born in Germany in 1842, came to St. Louis in 1863, and became a teacher of modern languages in the Hi h School in 1868. All the years from 1868 to his death in 1908 were spent in the service oig the public schools of this city. He held successively the positions of teacher, assistant superintendent, principal of the Normal School, principal of the High School, and of superintendent. In all of these positions his success was conspicuous, and in all of them it was marked by the same characteristics of a strong man. While no man could be more sensitive than he was to the approval of the public, he did not shape his work to win praise, but to accomplish important ends. He rejoiced in the consciousness of good accomplished, and modestly accepted whatever praise might follow years of unwavering pursuit of his plans for the advancement of the work of the schools. ln the assemblies of men he was a recognized power, yet his great influence there came largely from his unselfish recognition of the feelings and rights of others. His devotion to his work as a public ollicer was complete. No necessary effort was too great for him to undertake, and no detail of business was too small to engage his attention and care when they were needed. He was scrupulous in these matters and spared himself no pains in the conduct of his oilice that he would not have spared himself in the management of his private affairs. No offer of opportunity for advancement of his personal interests attracted his consideration when there could be in it any possibility of detraction from the service hc might render to the cause of education. His modesty and his devotion to his work had their sources in the same element of his character. No one approached this man with right purpose who did not feel the warmth of his genial sympathy. It was this natural impulse to put himself in the other man's place which made him modest and made him honest. His sympathy with the individual was an influence that sweetened and strengthened the lives of hundreds, Manifesting itself as altruism, this sympathy pervaded and gave character to the great institution over which he presided. His co-workers, catching the inspiration from their leader, united in the common cause of brightening and uplifting the world in which they worked. I have. heard him say that his greatest ambition was to he held in the memory of the youth of this city as their helper. The building in which this school is housed hears the name of the great superintendent as a memorial of his intellect and his moral character. May the virtues so prominent in his public life make such an impression upon this school, the pupils that enter and go out from these halls, that their lives may erect for their departed friend a monument more enduring than the bronze that records the dedication of this house. In 1909, there were few high school buildings in the world as beautiful and as com' pletely equipped as was the Soldan High School. The fame of its architectural design and the excellence of its equipment spread far and wide. Many distinguished persons, chiefly architects and educators, came to visit the school. Practically every state in the Union and a number of foreign countries were represented in the visitors' register. 'T ' f iii? tt 'E' I ' 'Y ggigg 5' ' it fig ...Y lil ,t