Susan Elizabeth Blow

Birth

Jun 7, 1848

Susan Elizabeth Blow was born in St. Louis, Missouri.

Great Fire

Apr 19, 1849

Susan lived in a home on the Mississippi riverfront until she was six years old. In 1849, a great fire burned the riverfront and downtown St. Louis. It destroyed many buildings, including Susan’s home. Henry Taylor Blow moved his family to Carondelet, a French settlement five miles downriver from St. Louis.

Private School

Apr 12, 1861

Susan attended a private school in New York City but her education was cut short because of the Civil War. Susan studied on her own using the family library.

Germany

Jan 19, 1869

Four years after the Civil War, Henry Taylor Blow was appointed ambassador to Brazil. Susan went with her father and worked as his secretary for fifteen months. Afterwards, she traveled to Germany. There she had an experience that gave the rest of her life direction.

First Public Kindergarten

Sep 1, 1873

After observing Friedrich Froebel teaching in Germany, she started studying everything she could about teaching Kindergarten. She opened the first public kindergarten at the Des Peres School in Carondelet.

Retired

Apr 19, 1884

She retired in 1884 and traveled to improve her health. In 1889 she left St. Louis and moved east. In New York and Boston, Blow wrote books and taught about the kindergarten movement.

Teaching Teachers

Apr 19, 1905

From 1905 to 1909 Blow taught at the Teachers College, Columbia University. Susan taught kids in the mornings and teachers in the afternoon.

Death

Mar 26, 1916

Susan Blow toured the country giving lectures until three weeks before her death.