- City:
- Kirksville
- Site Type:
- Education and Health, Schools
- New Deal Agencies:
- Public Works Funding, Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works
- Artist:
- Bonsack & Pearce
Description
Built at the same time as the Greenwood School and designed by the same firm, the Willard School in Kirksville shares architectural similarities with the former school. Willard was constructed in Northwest Kirksville and is now used for other purposes such as storage for an adjacent child care center.
Source notes
Site originally submitted by Charles Swaney on August 11, 2013.
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Debra Gaskins
B. Ellis
Who is the Willard School named after?
Willard School in Kirksville was named after the nationally known educator Frances Elizabeth Caroline Willard (1839 – 1898), according to “A Book of Adair County History” published in 1976. She was not from Kirksville and had no connections to this town. (She was born in NY and grew up in Wisconsin.) However, in 1899 (a year after her death) when the first Willard School was built in Kirksville, she had become a well-known public figure in the United States, as an educator and especially for her work with the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. So, the decision was made to name the new school after her. There were many other schools around the country being named after her at this time. She was instrumental in getting the 18th and 19th Amendments to the Constitution passed (Prohibition & Women Suffrage). She spent her life working on her vision of getting federal aid for education, free school lunches, women’s rights, unions for workers, an 8-hour work day, work relief for the poor, public sanitation, boards of health, strong anti-rape laws, & protection against child abuse. When a newer structure replaced the first Willard School in Kirksville, it retained the same name. – Adair County Historical Society