Abandoned school in Saint Louis MO

Carondelet School, St. Louis Missouri

Date added: August 29, 2023

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Missouri
School

Looking north at southeast and southwest elevations

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Carondelet School is a product of the St. Louis Public School District's nineteenth-century educational program, and a continuation of the Carondelet Village's efforts in public instruction. By adapting to the evolution of educational philosophy the building was able to function as a public school until 1975, and continued operating as a private school through the 1980s. Today it retains the characteristics that made it an important part of the Carondelet community and a significant part of the St. Louis Public School District.

St. Louis has placed value on education since 1812 when the first attempts were made to receive land from the federal government for the purpose of school development. Through an act of Congress on June 13^th, 1812 entitled, "An Act Making Further Provision for Settling the Claims to Land in the Territory of Missouri," certain vacant areas around St. Louis were designated for school purposes, either to be sold or built upon. Much of this property was quickly claimed by wealthy occupants before it could be surveyed for school use. A Board of Trustees was appointed to take control of the remaining vacated lands, which were to be rented or sold and the proceeds dedicated to the maintenance of already constructed school buildings.

All new schools were to be constructed under the direction of the Board of Trustees. Established by the Legislature in 1833, the St. Louis School Board eventually obtained land on which they opened two schools in 1837 (No. 1 later called Laclede and No. 2 renamed Clark) constructed for under $3,500 each. Two teachers operated each school. Within the next 13 years eight more schools were opened.

In 1850 the public school system received tax money from the City of St. Louis for the first time. By 1854 the success of the St. Louis Public School District had inspired the Missouri government to give funding to schools across the state. The School Board was constantly under scrutiny for their spending habits, and many people wanted to discontinue the use of public money for the Public School System. To keep the price of education down, the Lancaster system had been adopted. The Lancaster or "monitor" system enabled on teacher to instruct many students by explaining the lesson to more advanced learners who would then share it with the rest of the students. This system kept the number of employees to a minimum, and allowed class to be held in any room.

In 1857 the Franklin School opened, and a year later one of the two Lancaster classrooms was designated as a Normal School, where prospective teachers could learn how to educate students. One of the instructors designated for this school by Superintendent Ira Divoll was William Torry Harris. Harris was unimpressed with the Lancaster system. Working closely with Superintendent Divoll, the Franklin School became the first graded school in the St. Louis School District." Divoll was so impressed with Harris' work in the Franklin school that Harris was promoted to Principal at Clay School and then to Assistant Superintendent.

The success of the graded system led Divoll to demand a new design for St. Louis Public Schools as a way to implement the system throughout the district. As explained above, this design included twelve classrooms on three levels that could hold nearly 700 students." When Divoll passed away in 1867 Harris replaced him as Superintendent, and maintained the school design Divoll had mandated. This design would permeate the public school system for thirty years, until William B. Ittner revolutionized school architecture in 1887.

While the St. Louis Public School District was developing, Carondelet was opening its own school system. Incorporated as a town in 1832, Carondelet today is recognized as the area between Eichelberger on the Northeast, River Des Peres on the Southwest, the Mississippi River on the Southeast and by Grand and I-55 on the Northwest. Free education was offered to orphan children as early as 1834, and the public school system was organized under Mayor William Taussig on July 15^th, 1851. Classrooms were housed in vacated buildings around town, including the old town hall. The Blow School building was constructed as the first schoolhouse in 1866. This school, established through the efforts of Missouri Senator Henry T. Blow, consisted of 8 rooms on two levels, and in 1873 expanded to a third story, with a 12-room layout. This floor plan was similar to St. Louis schools constructed near the time of Blow School's addition. (The original Blow School is no longer extant, replaced by the existing building in 1903.)

In 1870 Carondelet was incorporated into the City of St. Louis, and the education of its children became the responsibility of the St. Louis Public Schools. Superintendent Harris noted that "the great extension of manufacturing interests in that section will attract a large population within a few months." Because of the financial strain on the School Board to build many new schools, and the poor reputation the Board had developed for its spending habits, finding funding was a challenge. Through the efforts of J. H. Fischer, one of the 1866 School Board Members and later a Missouri Senator, a small tax freed some mortgaged property and helped pay some debts in order to build the $35,000 building. While Fischer was busy preparing the financial aspects of the deal, Mr. Max Starkloff, the 1866 School Board Vice President, and his colleague Mr. Hiemenz pushed for the timely development of a 12-room schoolhouse. By 1871 Fredrick William Raeder's Carondelet School was completed, and the same year it opened its doors to the children of Carondelet's most southern neighborhood called "the patch," an area to the southwest of Robert and southeast of Alabama.

That first year there were eleven teachers and 725 pupils under the supervision of Principal F. R. Vickroy. Superintendent Harris had anticipated the growth of the area due to manufacturing and when Carondelet opened the majority of the students (411) were the children of factory laborers. The population of Carondelet had increased from 3,827 in 1860 to 5,387 in 1870 and its incorporation into Ward 1 of the City of St. Louis gave the area a total population of 33,708. In that year 38,244 St. Louisans held manufacturing jobs, and by 1880 that number increased to 52,865. Of these, 2,900 were iron and steel workers, an industry that made major contributions to Carondelet's economy. Carondelet's industrial furnaces converted rail-shipped iron ore from southeast Missouri into pig iron.

Concerned that children were leaving school too soon to join the growing workforce, William Harris feared the students did not receive all the vital instruction needed before abandoning their education. Looking for a way to ensure full instruction of pupils, Harris began working with Carondelet's Susan Blow. When the Des Peres School opened in 1873 it contained a special room for a kindergarten, which would educate the younger children of Carondelet, preparing them for more rigorous instruction in higher grades, and ensure basic learning skills. By 1900 nearly 200,000 pupils in St. Louis had enrolled in kindergarten, including students at Carondelet School.

The implementation of kindergartens throughout the St. Louis Public School District was not the only instructional element Carondelet shared. The assimilation of the Carondelet area into St. Louis City was important in creating a unified city, and by following the St. Louis School District's standardized curriculum the Carondelet School adapted students to the St. Louis City educational expectations. Many of the students in the area spoke only German, and thus a German language assistant was a part of the staff. (This was common in many of the St. Louis Public Schools.) English became the only language used in the elementary school in 1887 as part of the St. Louis School District curriculum program, and those speaking German were acclimated to a single language.

In 1901, it became clear that updates were necessary throughout Carondelet School. William B. Ittner, Commissioner of School Buildings, noted that the lack of indoor plumbing and unsanitary community schoolyard dippers were unsuitable in many of the public schools. Under his guidelines, indoor bathrooms were added, and the outhouse on the west side of the building became obsolete. The children still wandered to the basement to get water from the troughs using dippers. By 1935 drinking fountains were installed on each floor and the P.W.A. funded a one-story addition on the rear of the building. The addition included a gymnasium/auditorium and principal's office, with locker rooms below. This new addition was a product of John Dewey's educational philosophy, which suggested that educational spaces should be multifunctional to allow for student-centered learning. Dewey's "Progressive Education" movement had taken on new meaning in 1932 in St. Louis when the John Boroughs School (constructed in 1923 at 775 S. Price) joined the "Eight Year Study" of the Progressive Education Association. Borough's headmaster, Wilford Aikin, undertook the coordination of over thirty schools across the nation into this study. The schools evaluated new strategies in teaching and learning that could benefit those students moving on to higher education, leaving behind traditional curriculum requirements. Moving away from the customary classroom learning processes, the rear gym and playground, which was added to the north, expanded the school to the entire block and created an environment in which students could experience 2. lesson instead of reciting it.

In 1913 the first Junior High School opened in St. Louis, and by the 1930s more students were attending upper levels of public education. The erection of additional buildings redistributed the levels of education between schools, and in 1943, Carondelet School served the southern part of Carondelet as a sixth grade (7^th and 8^th grades held at Blow School, and elementary classes most likely held at Maddox). Holding only one grade, the school could easily expand to incorporate more children, and subject matter could be segregated between classrooms, preparing the children for upper-level education. With the extra space available, kitchen elements were added to one of the unused classrooms to serve lunch to the students.

In 1954, the Supreme Court announced that separate education was not equal in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision. The following year the St. Louis Public Schools, including Carondelet School, were desegregated, implementing the philosophy of equal education into schools across the nation. Four students from the previously all black Delaney School were transferred to elementary school at Carondelet in 1955, but the new students were not well accepted. African American inclusion in previously all white schools created different situations within the classroom, and teachers dealt with racism between students and within the community. Many in the neighborhood sent their dogs after the children as they walked to school, while yelling and name-calling. Some of the teachers even refused to give credit to their African-American students, though many embraced the children as they would any other student. Tensions created distractions within the classroom, and though allowed to attend Carondelet School, many African American students were separated in class from the other students.

The Carondelet School closed its doors on June 6, 1975. In 1976 it was sold to The Gateway Temple of St. Louis, Inc. and used as the Gateway Christian School, educating preschool through fourth grades. Today Carondelet School stands vacant. The building still speaks to the educational theory previously fostered within the walls, standing as the only nineteenth-century school in Carondelet that maintains its historic floor plan. With only a few changes made to adhere to fire code, the building still represents its late nineteenth-century purpose and design philosophy, as well as the value the community placed on education when it was constructed.

Building Description

Constructed in 1871, the Carondelet School is a three-story red brick elementary school located at 8221 Minnesota Ave, St. Louis, Missouri. The building sits on the southwest corner of Minnesota and Hurck Street, facing southeast. Measuring approximately 70' x 64', the brick and stone building has a raised basement, three floors of classrooms, and a two-story wing at the rear. The Carondelet School, designed by German-American architect Fredrick William Raeder, is an excellent representative example of the prototypical St. Louis elementary School design with Classical Revival architectural details. These include large overhanging eaves with decorative brackets, simple hipped roof, multiple belt courses, and narrow arched windows. In 1913, the main entrance and the windows were redesigned and in 1935 a rear addition housing a gymnasium was constructed.

The boundaries of Carondelet School and grounds include all of City Block 3209 bounded by Michigan Avenue on the west, Minnesota on the east, Hurck Street on the south and Davis Street on the north. The site is 275' x 137' and is enclosed by a chain link fence bordered by concrete sidewalks. It consists of the main school building, including the 1935 rear gymnasium and a 29,619 square foot outfield on the northeast corner. The area surrounding the school is primarily residential with some light industrial buildings located two blocks to the northwest.

The foundation is rusticated stone with small square windows at the ground level. The footprint of the building is a square shape with a 9'x 30' pedimented projection centered on both the east and west elevations. A red brick gymnasium measuring 28'x 50' is located at the rear. The exterior walls of the school are red brick with raised stone belt courses dividing each level. The window fenestration is symmetrical with recessed six-over-six wood double-hung windows on each elevation. The truncated hipped roof is adorned with wide overhanging eaves supported by decorative brackets.

The facade consists of a central three-story projection capped by a bracketed pediment. The main entrance is centered on the facade within the projection and contains a set of half-light double wood doors with a four-pane transom window. A stone lintel with two light fixtures and an eight-pane recessed arch window is located directly above the transom. "Carondelet School 1871" is engraved in a stone plate above the main entry. The entrance is flanked by narrow six-over-six wood windows with stone sills. The same window fenestration continues on either side of the projection and on the second floor. The third floor has segmental arch six-over-six wood windows and two flat arch six-over-six double-hung wood windows centered on the elevation. These windows were added as part of the 1913 renovation of the school. The original exterior windows were also replaced with the existing windows at this time. At the time of construction, the main entrance was recessed with a staircase that led through the current foyer to the original double entrance doors.

The north and south elevations are identical with a brick chimney stack centered on each elevation that rises from the basement to the roof. The fenestration pattern established in the primary elevation is continued on the north and south elevations. Two evenly spaced six-over-six windows with round arches (first and second floor) and segmental arches (third) are located on either side of the chimney. Each level is separated by a molded stone belt course.

The west elevation (rear) originally mirrored the facade with a less elaborate entry. In 1935, a flat-roofed rectilinear two-story addition was constructed at the rear of the original school building, connected by an interior hallway and stairwell to the west of the second-floor classroom. It houses the girls' and boys' locker rooms and a gymnasium, principal's office and teachers' restroom. The second story of the south elevation has two eight-over-sixteen wood double-hung windows with concrete lintels and sills. The first floor of the north elevation has two six-pane casement windows with concrete lintels and sills. The remaining window openings have been boarded up. The roofline is level with a terra cotta coping. A brick chimney is located on the south elevation.

Each floor consists of four classrooms measuring 26x28' with wide central hallways. Stairs are located at the east and west ends of the building leading from the basement to the upper floor and into the addition. The stairs are flanked by a small room on each level. The rooms were used for. teachers' offices, storage and the music room. Metal double doors with two nine-pane frosted casement windows are located at the top of each stairwell. Each classroom has wood floors that were replaced with new wood in 1913. Originally, the stairs and central hallways were also wood, but were replaced with concrete during the renovation in 1935. The classrooms are finished in plaster with slate chalkboards lining the walls. The chalkboards have twelve-inch wood trims above and wood wainscoting below. Wood bookcases and the existing chalkboards and railings were built in 1901 in the classrooms as part of a general improvements plan for early public school buildings initiated by William Ittner.

Around 1943, the southwest classroom on the first floor was converted into a kitchen. The walls were glazed with brick and a stainless steel refrigerator, sink, and serving bar were installed. The rear gymnasium has red-glazed brick on the walls with concrete floors. A small stage is located on the north end. The girl's and boy's locker rooms are on the ground floor directly below the gymnasium In the 1960s, a sprinkler system and emergency lights were installed in the building to meet code requirements.