About Barnard, Alice L. Barnard Elementary School

Alice Lucretia Barnard was born in Templeton, Massachusetts on July 20, 1829. In 1846 her family moved to Chicago where they purchased farm land between what is now 103rd and 107th streets. Because there were no schools in the area, Alice moved from her family’s home. For one year she boarded with Henry and Caroline Clarke at 16th Street and Michigan Avenue. Considered Chicago’s oldest house, The Clarke House is now a museum.

In 1847 she became a teacher at School No.1, renamed the Dearborn School. During the 1850s Alice Barnard returned to Massachusetts to study at Mount Holyoke College, an institution of higher education for women founded by Mary Lyon.

Upon her return to Chicago Alice L. Barnard was offered a position as a school principal, but declined because she knew she would be paid less than a man. Eventually her demands were met and in 1876 she was elected principal of the Jones school, a position she held until her retirement in 1891. She died in Chicago on July 29, 1908 at the age of 79.

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