Manitowoc had the first public school kindergarten in the state. Here's how it was created.
In 1930, a young kindergarten teacher at the First Ward School (later Roosevelt School) was preparing her classroom. As she decorated her walls to make it cheery and educational for her incoming students, she took down an old, deteriorated portrait of a serious-looking bearded gentleman. She stored the old portrait away in a closet until seasoned educators and older residents learned of her “rearranging.” Educators and residents asked that she put the portrait back up on the wall quickly, as the portrait was of C.F. Viebahn.
The young teacher was not at all impressed by the name of the bearded man in the portrait. She had never heard the name before. They then began to tell the young kindergarten teacher the story of the man in the portrait and how he created the first public school kindergarten for the state of Wisconsin, right here in Manitowoc, in that same school.
Watertown has the honor of being the first private kindergarten, but Manitowoc was the first in the state to start a public school kindergarten and probably one of the first in the country. St. Louis claims its public school, opened in 1873, was the first. It is known that Manitowoc had a kindergarten then also, so we must indeed be one of the first!
In the second half of the 1800s, a theory in education called the Froebelian philosophy made its way to Wisconsin. Fredrich Froebel opened a school in Germany for pre-school children and called it a kindergarten or “a garden where children grow.” He soon encouraged others to look at his model and began training schools for teachers.
Charles F. Viebahn was born in Germany and came to Wisconsin in 1851 at the age of 9. He made his way to Manitowoc in 1871 to become the principal of the First Ward School. He was deeply involved in the improvement of education and from the beginning he planned to establish a kindergarten program. A year later, Viebahn attended a school meeting at Osman where he met a young teacher, Miss Emily Richter.
Emily Richter, born in 1851 in Manitowoc, was the daughter of August M. Richter. He was a pioneer manufacturer in Manitowoc who came to America from Germany, settling first in Sheboygan County, then Newton, and finally in Manitowoc. In Manitowoc, Mr. Richter became the city clerk and established the A.M. Richter and Sons Vinegar manufacturer. He encouraged his daughter to study hard and become a teacher. Emily began teaching when she was 17. She taught at many rural schools, including Silver Lake and Osman, where she had met Viebahn.
Viebahn felt Miss Richter had the perfect qualities to promote his Froebelian vision. He hired her, and together they started preparing to teach at the kindergarten level. Emily took a course at the German English Academy in Milwaukee to learn the methods of Froebel. She also visited with Mrs. Carl Schurz, the founder of the private kindergarten school in Watertown, to learn methods. When she returned to Manitowoc, she was placed in charge of the primary education department and taught the first kindergarten class in the fall of 1873.
After leaving her role as a kindergarten teacher, Emily enrolled in the Oshkosh Normal School and graduated two years later. She then returned to Manitowoc to teach in the First Ward high school. She also focused on literacy and social work, including being a founding member of the Clio Club. Miss Richter passed away at the age of 91 in 1941. She is buried in Evergreen Cemetery.
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Charles Viebahn continued in the education field as well. After serving as the First Ward principal for many years, he was elected county superintendent of schools in 1880. He would later become a principal at Watertown High School, with John Nagle filling his role as superintendent. Viebahn was also elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1908. He passed away in 1915 in Watertown.
After the first kindergarten was established at the First Ward School, each public school in the city incorporated a kindergarten and one or more trained teachers according to the enrollment. Prospective kindergarten students and their mothers were invited to visit school during a special week each spring to help share the kindergarten idea. As early as 1928, the teachers compiled a curriculum for a two-year kindergarten program (4-year-olds and 5-year-olds), each with a different set of teaching goals. In 1955, Manitowoc County went through a school district reorganization that brought the number of 5-year-olds enrolled in kindergarten to an all-time high. At this time, county districts became part of the Manitowoc Public School District.
The Kindergarten Centennial was celebrated in 1956 by Manitowoc kindergarten teachers. This was done for Watertown having started the first kindergarten, but locally educators were proud to celebrate Manitowoc’s history as well. The Andrew Jackson kindergarten teachers partnered with Masquers theater performers to plan a skit. The Manitowoc Herald Times and WOMT radio were generous in helping to promote interest and give information about the celebration.
Charles Viebahn and Emily Richter have forever made their legacy for not only local education, but also for the state of Wisconsin.
Amy Meyer is executive director of the Manitowoc County Historical Society.
This article originally appeared on Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: Manitowoc had Wisconsin's first public school kindergarten
