First Kindergarten facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
|
|
First Kindergarten
|
|
 |
|
 Location in Wisconsin
|
|
| Location | 919 Charles St. Watertown, Wisconsin |
|---|---|
| NRHP reference No. | 72000055 |
| Added to NRHP | February 23, 1972 |
The First Kindergarten in Watertown, Wisconsin, is a special building. It was home to the very first kindergarten in the United States, which opened way back in 1856. A kindergarten is a school for young children, usually aged three to five, where they learn through play and activities. This building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 because it's so important to the history of education in America.
Contents
How Kindergartens Began
Margarethe Schurz and New Ideas
The idea for kindergartens came from a German educator named Friedrich Fröbel. He believed that young children were naturally curious and loved to learn. Instead of just making them sit still and work, Fröbel thought children should learn through play, special toys, music, stories, and exploring nature. He even compared children to plants and a teacher to a gardener who helps them grow and bloom. That's why he called it a "kindergarten," which means "children's garden" in German.
A woman named Margarethe Schurz (her maiden name was Meyer) was born in Hamburg, Germany. When she was sixteen, she heard Fröbel's ideas and loved them. Her family was well-off and believed in new, progressive ideas for society.
From Germany to America
After some big changes and revolutions in Germany around 1848-49, Margarethe's family faced difficulties. Some of them left Germany. Margarethe's sister started a kindergarten in London, and Margarethe helped her, gaining valuable experience. In London, Margarethe married Carl Schurz, who had also left Germany after being involved in the revolutions.
In 1852, Margarethe and Carl moved to the U.S., and in 1856, they settled in Watertown, Wisconsin.
The First American Kindergarten
Starting a School for Young Children
By 1856, Margarethe had a three-year-old daughter named Agathe. She decided to start a kindergarten right in her own home for Agathe and four of her cousins. They had their classes in German. Soon, other families heard about it and wanted their children to join too.
Because more children wanted to come, Margarethe needed a bigger space. She moved her kindergarten to a small building in town. This building is the one we're talking about – it became the first official kindergarten in the United States! It was a simple one-room schoolhouse. Margarethe ran the kindergarten until 1858, when the Schurz family moved to Milwaukee.
Carl Schurz's Important Career
After leaving Watertown, Carl Schurz became a very important person. He became a lawyer and a Republican. He was a key supporter of Abraham Lincoln among German-Americans. During the American Civil War, he was a major general in the Union Army. Later, he even became the United States Secretary of the Interior, a high-ranking government position.
The Kindergarten Building's Journey
Changes Over the Years
After the Schurz family left, the Watertown kindergarten opened and closed sometimes until the First World War. During that war, people became suspicious of anything German, so the kindergarten eventually closed for good.
The school building itself is quite simple, with one and a half stories and wooden siding. It measures about 18 by 24 feet. Over the years, after it stopped being a school, it was used for many different things. It was a cigar factory, a fish store, and even a religious book store. When it was a store, the front of the building was changed quite a bit.
Saving a Piece of History
In 1956, the building was almost torn down. Luckily, the Watertown Historical Society stepped in to save it! They moved the building from its original spot on North Second Street to where it is now, next to the Octagon House. They then began to fix it up and restore it to look like the kindergarten building it once was. Today, the building serves as a museum, where people can learn about its amazing history.
The original home where Margarethe Schurz first started her kindergarten burned down and is no longer there. That's why this schoolhouse is so important – it's the best reminder we have of that very first kindergarten in the U.S. Even though the building was moved and changed, its historical importance to education at a national level is still recognized.
