# Did you go to a school named after a historic figure? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 31, 2016, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782 "2016-01-31T21:06:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/1 "2016-01-31T21:06:23Z")
Just curious. I went to three: James Monroe, Abe Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/2 "2016-01-31T21:14:09Z")
I grew up in a rural area where each town had its own school so the schools were just named after the town. I think naming individual schools is something that happens more in cities where you have multiple schools and need to either name or number them to distinguish them. (Although there will now probably be dozens of people posting examples of rural schools named after people.) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/3 "2016-01-31T21:43:26Z")
I went to three different universities named for historic figures: Queen Victoria, a Quebec bishop, and a generous New England benefactor. ---
**Author:** ![jayrey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/47e85d/32.png) [@jayrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayrey)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/4 "2016-01-31T21:49:45Z")
I went to one named after Theodore Roosevelt. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/5 "2016-01-31T22:02:05Z")
Yes, but I suppose he was a pretty minor historical figure, being a 16th-17th century French Catholic saint. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/6 "2016-01-31T22:03:20Z")
Oliver Wendell Holmes Elementary Mildred L. Hale Jr. High I have no idea who Mildred L. Hale was, and the school no longer exists. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/7 "2016-01-31T22:10:15Z")
My high school has the town name which is true of almost all public high schools I know of in New Jersey. The two buildings that made up the school were named after historical figures. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/8 "2016-01-31T22:11:08Z")
Grade school: Thomas Jefferson Elementary ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/9 "2016-01-31T22:13:58Z")
Helen Keller Elementary, Virgil Grissom Junior High, Victor J Andrew High School, St. Xavier University, and Harry S. Truman College Victor J. Andrew is the only one you’ve probably never heard of. He’s a local scientist and businessman, founder of Andrew Corporation. He gave a bunch of money to the school right before it opened. So close to opening that while the school colors are his business colors, gold and black, the interior walls were painted green and orange, which were going to be the school colors until his donation happened. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/10 "2016-01-31T22:16:29Z")
Short answer: Yes Long answer: Kinda ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/11 "2016-01-31T22:20:17Z")
Rosenwald Elementary School for me. No one ever mentioned who Rosenwald was and I never thought to look it up until now. "Julius Rosenwald (August 12, 1862 – January 6, 1932) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He is best known as a part-owner and leader of Sears, Roebuck and Company, and for establishing the Rosenwald Fund, which **donated millions in matching funds to support the education of African American children in the rural South**. That makes sense because Rosenwald was our town’s all black K-12 school until the two schools were integrated in 1980 and then it became the elementary school for all students. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/12 "2016-01-31T22:22:53Z")
I went to 7th grade at [Charles W. Woodward](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_William_Woodward)High School in Rockville MD. I wouldn’t call him historical, he wasn’t even dead yet when school started. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/13 "2016-01-31T22:31:19Z")
Not a well-known known public figure, but my dad went to a school named after the city founder. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/14 "2016-01-31T22:33:56Z")
Jr. High/High School: Marlborough Uni: Stanford ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/15 "2016-01-31T22:42:35Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > Yes, but I suppose he was a pretty minor historical figure, being a 16th-17th century French Catholic saint. My high school was named after an 18th-19th century French saint, William Joseph Chaminade. I guess he was prominent during the French Revolution and he established a religious order. Not exactly a household name these days though. My college was named after the minor politician and community leader who donated the money to get it going. His Wiki article, certainly the truest measure of someone’s fame, is tiny. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/16 "2016-01-31T22:51:57Z")
Kindergarten, Abraham Lincoln. (1943-4) ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/17 "2016-01-31T22:53:36Z")
K-2: Clara Barton Elementary School. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/18 "2016-01-31T22:56:54Z")
The university I attended had it’s 150th anniversary last year. In 1865 it was originally named Lincoln College, for Abraham Lincoln. But it had a hard time and a few years after opening really needed money. A sucessful businessman from New England, Ichabod Washburn, donated $25000 to the school and back then that was a huge chunk of cash. It was enough that they renamed the school in his honor. It’s now Washburn University. In the early 20th century, when sports teams at schools became a big thing, Washburn named it’s teams the Ichabods. Talk about a unque mascot name. My grade school was named for a well known local figure, but he wasn’t famous nationally. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/19 "2016-01-31T22:58:22Z")
I went to Jefferson Davis Elementary School.:eek: Later renamed Rosa Parks Elementary School.🆒 ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/20 "2016-01-31T23:01:22Z")
Elementary=McKinley Jr. High=Swanson(Claude A.), Governor and Senator from Virginia, Secretary of the Navy. High School=Washington-Lee(Arlington VA) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782.md?page=2)