# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/21 "2016-01-31T23:06:50Z")
The only time I went to public school was kindergarten, at Washington-Jefferson. My grade school was Our Lady of Mount Carmel School, which, being named after a hallucination, was not a historical figure. My high school was Bishop Guilfoyle, an actual past bishop of our diocese. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/22 "2016-01-31T23:09:13Z")
Totally generic: 6th Street Elementary Central Jr. High West High ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/23 "2016-01-31T23:15:49Z")
Two for me. Emerson (as in Ralph Waldo) Pacheco (as in… I’m actually not sure. One fits the geography, the other fits the philosophy.) ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/24 "2016-01-31T23:55:59Z")
Daniel Webster Junior High School now known as Daniel Webster Middle School. The Elementary School and High School were named after the area where they were located. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/25 "2016-02-01T00:14:58Z")
Maria Montessori. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/26 "2016-02-01T00:16:33Z")
Ralph Waldo Emerson Junior High School ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/27 "2016-02-01T00:18:47Z")
Is Edsel Ford considered an historic figure? ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/28 "2016-02-01T00:21:34Z")
My Alma Mahler Knox Grammar School was named after the founder of Presbyterianism [John Knox](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Knox). We used to call it The School of Hard Knox . ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/29 "2016-02-01T00:30:53Z")
I went to a college named for Josiah Bushnell Grinnell, who is a historic figure in the sense that he allegedly was the person who Horace Greeley told to “Go West, young man”. Now there’s notoriety. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/30 "2016-02-01T00:50:04Z")
No. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/31 "2016-02-01T00:54:35Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > I went to Jefferson Davis Elementary School.:eek: Robert E. Lee high school, briefly. My cousin went to J.E.B Stuart middle school. You know ole’ [J.E.B Stuart](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._E._B._Stuart)! Nice guy. Too bad about the KKK business. Growing up in the south was weird. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/32 "2016-02-01T01:09:20Z")
[Lucille M. Nixon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucille_Nixon) Elementary. Unfortunately, I attended this school during the decline and fall of Richard M. Nixon, which lead to some confusion. For a while, the school had a giant cutout of [Lucy Van Pelt](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e9/Lucy_van_Pelt.png) at the entrance to ensure that we we were associated with the Lucille part of our name. [Lewis M. Terman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Terman) Junior High. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/33 "2016-02-01T01:14:38Z")
I went through Catholic schools so my schools were named after two saints. One was named after a pretty big saint who doesn’t have any historical confirmation of existence outside the Bible that even a lot of non-Chrisstians would be aware of - Joseph. The other was a well supported as real French guy. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/34 "2016-02-01T01:26:03Z")
Mine wasn’t; nearly all the schools in my area were named for the town they were in. About the only school on Long Island that fits was Walt Whitman. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/35 "2016-02-01T01:27:41Z")
I did not but in a sort of roundabout, backwards way, I did. I went to a Catholic grammar school: All Hallows. Some years after I moved on, the school was renamed Pope John Paul II School. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/36 "2016-02-01T01:29:47Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > 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. Hey, me too! Most people would probably recognize the name from the college in Hawaii that hosts a basketball tournament every year. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/37 "2016-02-01T01:36:48Z")
I attended Lafayette Elementary and John Muir Jr. High. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/38 "2016-02-01T01:40:11Z")
Well, they were sort of famous. A Saint for grammar school and John Purdue for college. My high school was named after a location. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/39 "2016-02-01T01:52:27Z")
I’ve attended nine schools in my life. K-3, the school was named after a person, but I haven’t been able to find any record, even in local history books, of who that person was. 4-5, my school was named after a fellow who was a notable figure locally during his life, but whose only real impact on history was getting a few things named after him. 6th grade was just called the School of Science (spoiler alert: There wasn’t any more focus on science than at any other school). 7-8, I think was named after a civil rights leader (double checking: Yes, he was). 9th, 10-12, and undergrad were all named after various saints. The two colleges I went to after my bachelor’s were named after a state and a city, respectively. I think that out of all of them, St. Benedict was probably the most historically-notable. ---
**Author:** ![dada2fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ccd318/32.png) [@dada2fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dada2fish)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782/40 "2016-02-01T02:13:28Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Is Edsel Ford considered an historic figure? Thunderbirds I assume? At least your team name was better than mine. Who came up with Pioneers? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-go-to-a-school-named-after-a-historic-figure/744782.md?page=3)