Louise McNair

Louise McNair, Kajiwara Photo

Louise McNair (1869-1956) was a mathematics teacher and the headmistress of Hosmer Hall for girls in St Louis.

Biography

Louise McNair was born in 1869 in St. Louis, the daughter of Charles A. McNair and Louise Donohoe (d. March 10, 1903), of Glasgow, Missouri. Charles A. McNair (1831-1907) was engaged in the iron business in St. Louis; his children were: Elizabeth McNair (1856-1857), Edwin Alonzo McNair (1858-1914), Emma Belle McNair, Louise McNair. The musician, McNair Ilgenfritz, was Louise McNair's nephew.

McNair was a student of Mary Institute, and after graduating there she taught three years in Hosmer Hall, and then attended Wellesley College, class of 1896. At Wellesley she was schoolmate with Sarah Chamberlin Weed and Elizabeth B. Hardee, who killed themselves in a suicide pact at the Laurens' School, the fashionable boarding school for girls they founded in the Fenway district of Boston.

Returning to school after her course at Wellesley McNair again taught Mathematics at Hosmer until the death of Martha Matthews, when she accepted the position of principal in 1903.

McNair was appointed to be the headmistress of Hosmer Hall where she had previously taught. The school was founded in 1884 by Clara G. Shepard and Martha H. Matthews, and, at a later date, was incorporated under the laws of Missouri. In 1896 Matthews assumed control of the school when it moved to its location at Washington and Pendleton Avenues.

Upon the death of Matthews in 1907, the management was transferred to Louise McNair, who was closely identified with the school. Hosmer Hall was founded a few months after Miss Cuthbert's School closed, which was one of the early schools for young girls.

The aim of Hosmer Hall was to fit girls for the responsibilities and opportunities of later life and to develop the highest type of American womanhood.

Founded at a time when college education for women was in its initial stage, Hosmer Hall laid stress upon fitting its pupils to enter the leading women's colleges. McNair was often asked why should a girl spend time in learning mathematics and Latin in college, studies which they rarely ever put to practical uses. She believed very strongly that those subjects were of value because they gave a fine mental training. McNair believed that school work should be difficult, also that the knowledge gained from mathematics could be obtained in no other way. She believed that a girl could make a better loaf of bread by knowing Latin and mathematics. McNair said that we could start children with was a trained mind then they were prepared for whatever must be done.

She believed that children should, in school, have enough work to keep them busy; that while they were attending school their business was to go to school; that if their spare time were spent, as it was before, in learning the lessons of domestic life she could feel different about engrossing most of their time; but when their spare time was spent in going downtown to matinees and picture shows she protested very vigorously. The important thing she wished to do was to train the girls' minds, but let them do their own thinking. She wanted the girls whom she taught to turn out the kind of women who were going to do something with their lives, and that was true of the majority of the alumnae of this school. There were many who were successful — Sara Teasdale, Caroline Risque, Zoe Akins, Berenice Wyer — were among the notable women in St. Louis.

The instructors in Hosmer Hall were all graduates of the leading colleges to meet the standards demanded by the college entrance requirements. It was the policy of Hosmer Hall always to have among the instructors one or two recent graduates from college to keep a diverse range of staff ages. Grace Burnham was the assistant principal, with a degree of Bachelor of Arts from Washington University; Cora L. Swift, French; Alice M. Miller, Latin; H. Carolyn Percy, English, and Florence Elizabeth Lange, German, represented the teachers of languages. Alice M. Hasey, science; E. Hoefman, home economics; Sadie Ingram, Grace Jencke, preparatory department. Senta Goldberg, Harriet Downing-Macklin, Arthur Lieber, Emily J. Griffin, Elizabeth D. Slack, and Mary F. Gold, as the very efficient matron, composed the Faculty. The number of resident pupils was limited to thirty. It was the intention of the school each year to have the household composed keen students. Graduates from the school were admitted on certificate and did commendable work at Wellesley College, Smith College, Vassar College, Wells College, Mount Holyoke College, University of Michigan, University of Nebraska, University of Missouri, Washington University and other institutions of similar standing. Instruction in instrumental music was given by the Kroeger School of Music. The director, Ernest Kroeger, had an international reputation as a teacher, composer and concert pianist, and his assistants were all trained musicians. Hosmer Hall was bought by the state as a junior school in 1936 and although it was rebuilt in 1965 the site is still used for education.

McNair was the secretary of the Wednesday Club for many years, acted as treasurer and a member of the executive board, and also leader of the poetic section of the club when first founded. For several years she served as secretary of the Contemporary Club.

Halcyon Hall, Bennett College, in 2016

Louise McNair later became faculty member emeritus of Bennett College, in Millbrook, New York.

She was friends with Lillie Rose Ernst who was the first woman to become assistant superintendent of instruction in the St. Louis public school system

She died in 1956 and is buried at Bellefontaine Cemetery, Saint Louis.