About Wells, William H. Wells High School

William Harvey Wells (1812-1885), Superintendent of the Chicago Public Schools from 1856 to 1864, as well as President of the Chicago Board of Education. He was also one of the organizers of the Public Library. A school was erected and dedicated in his honor in 1886.
The present building was opened in February 1935 on the site of the old school with additional ground to the north. William Harvey was born in Tolland, Connecticut on February 27, 1812. He died in Chicago on January 21, 1885. He lived on a farm until 1829. After attending school for a short time, he became a teacher and taught in the Teachers' Seminary in Andover, MA, from 1836-'47. He was principal of both Putnam Free School in Newburyport, MA from 1848-'54, and of the State Normal School in Westfield, MA from 1854-'56. He then moved to Chicago, where he was superintendent of public schools from 1856 until 1864.
Mr. Wells was an organizer of the Massachusetts state teachers' association, one of the first editors of the "Massachusetts Teacher," and at different times a member or officer of numerous educational and learned societies.
He was vice-president of the Chicago astronomical society, a director of the public library, and an organizer and life-long friend of the Washingtonian home of Chicago. Dartmouth gave him the honorary degree of M. A. in 1845. He was the author of several schoolbooks and "Historical Authorship of English Grammar" (Chicago, 1878), contributed to educational journals, and assisted in the revision of "Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.

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