Latin School of Chicago

In 1884, after graduating from Boston University, Miss Vickery was preparing to attend Radcliffe College but changed her mind at the last moment because of her passion for children's education. Instead, she attended Salem Normal School, the teachers' college of the time. Upon completion of her course work, she served as principal of South Chatham Grammar and Orange High School in Connecticut before coming to the Midwest. From the beginning, Miss Vickery was strongly committed to the success of the new Latin School and the stability of her position. When A.C. McClurg left Chicago in 1894 for Europe and parent sponsorship became uncertain, Miss Vickery took ownership of the school and grew its enrollment, determined to make it financially solvent. She returned east as a special student at Harvard University for three summers in 1895, 1897 and 1898 to earn a certificate in American history, which prepared her to serve the school at the high school level. In part this determination may have been rooted in the need to support herself as well as her mother and an invalid sister who lived in Massachusetts. By the time of her retirement, Miss Vickery was highly respected for her contributions to education in Chicago. According to Chicago and its Makers: "The high standards set by her 42 years of teaching have become a tradition in the lives of a large number of Chicago's most worthy citizens." Although small in stature, Miss Vickery exuded an aura of dignity. She always wore a hat in the classroom and had excellent posture. "Miss Vickery still was the tiny figure, very erect and alert, which LaSalle Street school. school's home for the next 25 years. Miss Vickery supervised the lower grades while also teaching history in the upper school, and Mr. Bates was responsible for the older students. Miss Vickery began holding classes for the older girls at 54 E. Scott Street in 1902, graduating the first class of girls in 1907. It included six members: Josephine Wilkins, Amy Walker, Margaret Prussing, Erna Schrader, Lydia Lee and Edith Sexton. Amy Walker and Margaret Prussing went on to Bryn Mawr College, which had the highest entrance requirements of any women's college of the time. It wasn't until 1913, however, that the Girls Latin School of Chicago opened at 59 E. Scott Street. Forty years later, the building became the upper school. The school was entirely Miss Vickery's. She owned the building and was its headmistress, and her influence could be seen in every part of the school. Children of Latin faculty have been a part of the student body since 1896. ¸ LATI N SCHOOL OF CHI CA GO 31

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