On January 14, 1911, Ulysses S. Grant Elementary School held its first day of classes welcoming students from 1st to 6th grade. It is named after the 18th president of the United States who, prior to being elected, was Commanding General of the Union Army during the American Civil War. Grant School was built to relieve overcrowding in the Columbia Public School District. Its architect was St. Louis based William B. Ittner, who has been called the most influential man in school architecture in the United States. Construction took only 10 months, beginning in March 1910, and was completed in time for the building’s opening on January, 14, 1911.

Overcrowding in CPS had been an issue for sometime. Enrollment at the high school went from 64 in 1895 to 275 in 1905. In 1906 Columbia High School lost accreditation because of overcrowding according to W.H. Hays the superintendent. That same year the board called a referendum, asking voters to approve an $18,000 loan to expand Lee Elementary, Benton Elementary, and the black only Douglass School. The high bar of a two-thirds majority and concerns that the loan didn’t address an expansion of the white only Columbia High School caused the issue to fail. In 1909, The next referendum passed. It provided for the construction of a new high school building and the construction of a new elementary school. The high school constructed in 1910 is Jefferson Middle School today, the elementary school was Grant School, William B. Ittner designed both.

The intersection of Garth and Broadway was offered by developer J.A. Stewart for the new elementary school. Stewart, who lived five miles west of town, developed land both north and south of Broadway. The southern portion is known as the Old Southwest today. Stewart Road is named after him. He offered the land to the school board for $3,000. Negotiations about price were not successful and the board asked the court to condemn the land and name a fair price. The court ended up forcing the school district to pay $3,700 for the land, more than Stewart had asked originally. The school still serves the neighborhoods Stewart developed, now some of Columbia’s most affluent. The three-story brick building still operates as an elementary school in 2023; Grant and its sister building, Jefferson Middle School, are the oldest buildings still used by the district.

Sources

• Gafke, Roger A. (1978). A History of Public School Education in Columbia. Columbia, Missouri: The Board of Education of the Columbia Public School District, American Press, a division of Standard Publishing. Accessed January 13, 2023 at kewpie.net

• Grant Student Council (2011). Grant School: 100 Years and Still Shining. Accessed January 13, 2023.

• Winter, Ginny Ramseyer (2021). An (Incomplete) History of Black Excellence & Racial Injustice in Columbia, MO.

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