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American school children in the 1910s dressed differently depending on where they went to school. We still see a lot of rural one-room schools. Rural children commonly wore dungares to school and webnt barefoot. This was especially true of the South which was the poorest part of the country. Boys in the North were more likely to dress up, at least for the school photograph. We see youngr boys in the early 1910s still wearing blouses with wide collars. Kneepants were common and when the boys were not barefoot commonly worn with dark long stockings. Many boys not wearing overalls wore suspenders. Boys in the cities dressed differently most wore shoes to school and overalls were not common. Many boys wore suits to school. Kneepants were common, but we also see boys wearing knickers. Some boys wore ties, but mostly in city schools. We see some boys wearing sailor suits, but not very many. We do notice girls wearing sailor dresses. Some boys wear coveralls, but they were not very common. They were especially rare in rural schools. Many boys wear flat caps, but we also see beanies. We note Catholic boys dressed up in suits for First Cmmunion.
We have a matted formatted school portrait. It looks to be a 1st grade clss. Unfortunately we do not know the name of this school or even when it was taken. We have several details from the portrait showing the children's outfits in detail. We at first thought this was from the early 1920s, but perhaps the late-1910s is more likely. Note the footwear. This looks more like the 1910s. The children are posing in front of their elementary (primary) school. The girls are holding their dolls. This must have been a special day for the girls to bring their dolls to school. Two of the boys wear sailor suits. One boy has a lrge white collar and floppy bow, Another boy wears what looks like a home knitted sweater.
This school is a mystery to us. It appears to be a school named the U.S. Scout School. It was located in Paris, France. The boys appear to be American boys wearing Scout uniforms. The pgotoigraph appears to have been taken in a shop of some kind, perhaps a carpentry class. They are wearing protective shop aprons. The photograph is not dated, but we would guess it was taken in the early 1910s before World War I (1914). Surely it was taken after the U.S. Boy Scout movement was founded which would men after 1909. We have no idea why there would be a U.S. Scout school in Paris or just what a scout school involved. Hopefully we will eventually find out more.
We know very little about this school other than the name, the Roaring Brook School. It is apparently a small rural school, presumably a one-room schoo, in upsate New York. We believe that the school would have taken children from grade 1-8. That would have meant children from about age 6-13 or perhaps 14. After
finishing here, if they continued their education they would have entered a city high school. The photograph here at the school was taken in 1910. It is a bit difficult to tell, but the boys look to be wearing knickers rather than kneepants. The children look rather dressed up for their portrait. We suspect that some normally wore
overalls.
We believe the school here was called the Hogden School. It was located in Hodgen, a small town in LeFlore County, Oklahoma. The photograph we have was taken in 1910. It was a white, wood slat building. There look to be about 80 children in the photograph. Most bpys wear knee pants and went barefoot. Only a few boys wear overlls. We note some Native American children at the school. Only two teachers are with the children, a man and a woman.
We have one image taken some time in the 1910-11 school year. Unfortunately it is a little difficult figuring out just what the children are wearing in this shot. The photograph is identified as being taken during the 1910-11 school year.
One interesting observation from these early 20th century New York school images is that even though they are taken at a rural school, none of the boys are wearuing overalls.
Here we see the McIntosh School. It was the only school near Cotton Mills, Winona, Mississippi. A photograph in May 1911 shows the teacher and the pupils. It was a private school taught by Miss McIntosh. It might be called an old fashioned dame school. Miss. McIntosh operated a school for several years. She charged each pupil only $1.00 a month. With about 10 pupils the job was not very lucrative. She said it was discouraging, but that many of the children seemed to appreciate her efforts. "What we need is compulsory education and a free school out here, which we may get before long." The children she taught ranged from 6 to 10 years. The Southern states did not have public schoo; systems before the Civil War and lagged behinfd the other states in establishing public schools after the War. In fact, one of the charges leved against Reconstruction government was reckless spending, especially for education. Mississppi well into the 20th century was commonly at the bottom of the lost of states for spending on education.
This photograph shows a school class in North Wales, Pennsylvania (a suburb of Philadelphia), apparently taken around 1910-12. These children look like 8th-graders, and this is probably their graduation photo before moving on to high school. The children would be about 12 to 13 years old. The boys sitting cross-legged in the front row are all apparently wearing knee pants suits with long black stockings although a few boys may wear above-the-knee knickers. They also wear white shirts, apparently with detachable starched collars and bow or straight
ties. Notice the boy near the center with the bow tie and the center-part haircut. The girls wear mostly white long skirts with white shirtwaists. The season is apparently June, the time when graduation photos would be taken. It is interesting that the boys still wear mostly knee pants rather than above-the-knee knickers. It was a period when knee pants were still being worn, obviously, but that also featured the newer-style above-the-knee knickers in some places.
These children appear to come from quite affluent families. They are very carefully and rather expensively dressed.
Unlike many European schools, American schools were generally coeducational, thus providing glimpses of what boys and girls were wearing. The children have come out of the school so we do not get to see what kind of hats or caps they were wearing. Presumably the children dressed up a bit to have their photographs taken. Boys at this rural school sailor suits, various shirts, and Fauntleroy blouses. Mot boys appear to wear a shirt or blouse to school without a jacket. They are all long sleeve shirts. Two of the boys at back appear to be wearing suits. Presumably the children dressed up a bit to have their photographs taken. All of the boys have short haircuts.
Notice the pinafores that the girls are wearing, not to different from the clothes that girls were wearing in the 1880s. Hair ribbons are very popular for the girls. One girl wears a middy blouse.
The East View School was located in Grayson Country Kentucky. It looks a typical rural school at the time. An school portrait taken in 1911 shows the boys mostly wearing overalls or kneepants. The overalls the boys wear are quite varied. One boy at the front has overalls tha look almost like a plain pinafore rather than bib-front overalls. Many of the boys not wearing overalls are wearing
suspenders. Several boys wear blouses with wide collars. The girls all wear dresses. Several have pigtails and hairbows. All of the children appear to be barefott, although the older children in the back row presumably are
wearing shoes. There is quite an age range here. Some of the older children look more like high school students. We believe that some of these rural schools often had classes up to grade 8. (A normal primary was grades 1-6.). Grade 8 might be children 13-14 years old or even older if they got a late start or did
not do well in school.
This photo was taken in Columbus, the county seat of Colorado County, Texas. The county was formed in 1837 from a Mexican Municipality. We are not entirely sure about the school's nme. It was located in Columbus, but it may have had a didderent name. The photo shows a class of elementary school, about 1911. It is a class of younger children, perhaps 2nd graders. The boys wear blouses, a few with bows or ties. One boy has a particularly large collar. All the boys wear knickers. Note that none wear short or long pants. The girls wear dresses, mostly white dresses. Almost all the children wear black long stockings. A few of the boys are barefoot. Note that while some girls wear sandals, the boys wear heavy high-top boot-like shoes.
Yonger boys in 1912 did not wear suit jackets to school. Most boys wore shirts and blouses, buttoned to the collar. None of the boys wore the ruffled collar that
were still popular in the 1900s. One boy wore a bow and another a necktie. One boy had a smart sailor suit. Boys wore knickers, including some above the knee
styles, with dark long stockings. The boys have short hair cuts, contrasting to the long hair worn by mot of the girls. Hair bows were very popular with the girls.
The Greenbriar School was located in Grayson Country Kentucky. The children look a little more prosperous than the East View School which was also located in
Grayson County. The Greenbriar School also looks to be a rural school. Here we have the children photographed outside their school. Many of the boys wear
overalls and are barefoot like the East View Schoo, but we see several smartly dressed younger boys, some wearing tunic suits with long stockings and shoes. All
the younger children at the East View School were barefoot. The older boys are variously dressed. One boy wears overalls, but the boy next to him looks to be
wearing a suit.
We have an image of the Hueytown School in 1912. Hueytown was a small town in Alabama. The school is small, but looks like it might have two class rooms. The children wear a range of clothing. We do not note overalls. Several of the children wear suits. We note both kneepants and knickers. About half of the children wear long black stockings and half of barefoot.
The Masonville school appears to be a small one-room school in upsate New York. The photograph we have is not high quality but appears to show the boys mostly wearing knickers in 1913. One boy appears to be wearing an out grown tunic suit. Notice two girls wearing white pinafores.
Here we see a great photograph of children playing a ring game at a one-room school on the Great Plains. It was taken in Milton, North Dakota during 1913. We are guessing the name of the school was the Milton School. It may have been the Huit School. Here we are not sure. American schools were often called "little red school houses". We're not sure what color the school here was painted. It does not look red. Nor do we know just what game the childre are playing. Perhaps one of our readers will recognize it. Notice that the teacher has joined the game.
This school group looks to have been photographed about 1915. It is an unidentified image, but I would say was probably taken in a small town in a rural area. It looks like some of the children are Indian. Perhaps the school migh be be in North Dakota. The children do not seemed to have dressed up for the photograph.
Here we have a picture of the 2nd and 3rd grade class taken in Rossville, Georgia. We suspect the name of the school was the Rossville school, but we are not sure. Rossville is a small town located in Walker County, Georgia. It is a largely rural area. The area is best known for the conflict between the Cherokee Indians and the state of Georgia in the early 19th century. This class portrait we have shows many children that look poor. That appear from their look, the old dirty clothing, the dirty feet. Most of the boys come to school barefoot. Several wear overalls.
Here we see the Coalinga Union High School in California's Central Vlley. We have the photograph of the girls basketball team in 1916. The boys wore a short pabts uniform. The girls, however, wire middy blouses, scaves, long bloomers and long stockings.
Here we see boys at the Laramie Training School in Laramie, Wyoming, The photograph was taken
in October 2, 1916. The group is referred to in a notation on the photograph as the "Potato Club" under
the supervision of a supervisor, Miss Adsit. The Laramie Training School was an experimental school attached to the University of Wyoming at which prospective teachers in the Department of Education got
practical training as public school teachers. The boys have obviously collected sacks of potatoes for some reason--perhaps as part of an agricultural project, or perhaps as a charitable enterprise of some
sort. Note the scale for weighing the potatoes in the background. The boys are nicely dressed for their photograph, wearing suits and ties, and in at least two sases sweaters. One of the boys wears a heavy cardigan sweater with a tie. The black boy in the back also seems to be wearing a sweater, but without a tie. One boy wears a Norfolk-style suit. The boys wear white shirts. Interestingly, for 1916, Laramie was already integrated, there being one black boy in the group. (Wyoming while still a territory had tried to prevent blacks from residing there and many early public schools did not accept black children. The boys all seem to be wearing knickers with long black stockings. For some reason, the boys sitting cross-legged in the front seem to have shed their jackets and are wearing only shirts and ties with their knickers and stockings. For some reason the photographer saw it appropriate to group them together.
This is a Catholic school where photographs were taken during World War I. There are of course quite a number of St. Anthony schools in America. It appears to be an all boys' school, at least the boys were photographed separately. This was not common at Catholic primary schools which were normally coed. Unfortunately we do not know when these photographs were taken. One photograph was taken in the Spring when the younger boys were doing their First Communion. The older boys may be doing their Confirmation. The second photograph shows the boys patriotically dressed in a variety of military uniforms. We assume that this was taken after America entered the War (April 1917).
The Irwin Ave. Junior High School was located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Irwin Ave. Junior High Science Club photograph (1919) shows the boys quite dressed up. Most of them wear knicker suits with formal shirts and ties. A few of the boys wear only shirts without jackets. The variety of trousers here is interesting. Notice the front row which shows long trousers, knee pants, and above-the-knee knickers. These children would be about 13 or 14. The most conservative parents would insist on knee pants and long black stockings whereas the more liberal parents would allow long pants. The middle-ground compromise would appear to be above-the-knee knickers.
The Johnston School was located in Detroit, Michign. We do not know much about the school, but it was a public elementary (primary) school. It seems to be a fairly typical public elementary school at the time. The one photograph we have shows the children playing and exercising in May 1919. We note children with balls and an exercise hoop. Some children seen to be using barbells. And children in the back are doing a May Day pole. It is not clear if this was their classroom because there are no desks. Perhaps they have moved them out of the way for a play session. We suspect that it was a special room because desks at the time were fairly heavy, too heavy for younger children to easily move. It is not, however, a gynasium. The children are having a play/exercise session. Perhaps it was a rainy day. The flag is hung prominantly as was common in American classrooms. There is a poster on the backwall, but unfortunately we can't read it. The girls all wear dresses and the boys knickers. All the children wear black long stockings.
This class photo of the Logan School, Denver, Colorado. It looks to be a elementary (primary schoo for grades 1-8. It could be a junior high school (grades 7-9). The only information we have was taken in June 1919. The portrait shows the children very dressed up for their school picture. The children seem to be about 7th graders (about 12 years old), but this could be an 8th grade graduation class (which would mean that the children would be about 13). The boys mostly wear formal suits with shirts and ties. Some of the boys wear knickers (both above-the-knee and below-the knee), and one or two boys seem to be in knee pants. They all wear black long stockings. The girls tend to wear white stockings. Two boys in the back row seem to be wearing only shirts without jackets. One girl in the front wear appears to wearing spats--a bit unusual for girls, one might suppose. The photo seems to have been taken on the front steps of the school in warm weather (it was June--graduation time).
We notice the the St. James Catholic School Catholic School in St. Louis, Missouri. The school was sponsored by the St. James Church. Most Catholic schools, especially primary schools were sponsored by a church located right by the school or close by the school. Catholic schools in America are often called parochial schools. We do not know a great deal anout the school. One photograph shows the 5th grade, taken in 1919. The children are sitting at their desks in their classroom.
This photograph is a class at Tisbury School on Martha's Vineyard. It seems to date from about 1919 or 1920. Some of the boys still wear knee pants with long stockings while others wear knickers (also with long stockings). One boy seems to be wearing knee socks and bare knees with his above-the-knee knickers. The adult clothing looks a bit more modern too. Note the shorter
length of the teacher's skirt on the left. A few of the boys wear tiny bow ties with their white shirts. Quite a variety of styles is represented here.
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