The second manual training school in this country was founded as a department of Washington University, St. Louis, Mo., by Dr. C. M. Woodward. In a paper read before the St. Louis Social Science Association, May 16, 1878, Dr. Woodward discussed the subject of education both philosophically and practically. In the course of his address he gave a full account of the Russian system of manual training as expounded by Dr. Runkle, endorsed it, and recommended it to the people of St. Louis as the true method of education in the following pregnant sentence: “The manual education which begins in the kindergarten, before the children are able to read a word, should never cease.”[99]
[99] The pressing problem of the time in methods of practical education is to devise suitable manual exercises for the school period embraced in the interim between the end of the kindergarten series of lessons and the beginning of the series of laboratory exercises described in this work—the grammar-school period—for children of both sexes from six to fourteen years of age.
In the same paper Dr. Woodward thus modestly describes the beginning of the school which is now one of the most highly-esteemed educational institutions of St. Louis:
“With the aid of our stanch friend, Mr. Gottlieb Conzelman, we fitted up during last summer a wood-working shop, with work-benches and vises for eighteen students; a second shop for vise-work upon metals and for machine-work; and a third with a single outfit of blacksmith’s tools. During the last few months systematic instruction has been given to different classes in all these shops. Special attention has been paid to the use of wood-working hand-tools, to wood-turning, and to filing.”
These tentative steps promoted a healthy public sentiment, and attracted the attention of several wealthy men, who in 1879 contributed the funds for the permanent foundation of the school. The prospectus for the year 1882-83 contains the following “historical note,” which shows great progress:
“The ordinance establishing the Manual Training School was adopted by the Board of Directors of the University, June 6, 1879.
“The lot was purchased and the building begun in August of the same year. In the November following a prospectus of the school was published. In June, 1880, the building being partially equipped, was opened for public inspection, and a class of boys was examined for admission. On September 6, 1880, the school began with a single class of about fifty pupils. The whole number enrolled during the year was sixty-seven. A public exhibition of drawing and shop-work was given June 16, 1881.
“The second year of the school opened September 12, 1881, and closed June 14, 1882. There were two classes, sixty-one pupils belonging to the first year, and forty-six to the second year, making one hundred and seven in all. Of the second-year class, forty-two had attended the school the previous year.
“The third year of the school will open on September 11th, when three classes will be present.
“The large addition now in progress (June, 1882) is to be completed and furnished by the day set for the examination of candidates for admission, September 8th. The number of pupils in the new first-year class is to be limited to one hundred. Nearly one-half of that number have already been received.”