November 9, 2014

This past Friday was the 116th anniversary of D. Esther Swain's birthday: our late founder was born on November 7, 1898. We thought it would be a fitting occasion to look back on the history of the school she founded in 1929 (right:
Mrs. Swain, in her later years)

The Beginning

From The Swain School Story: 1929-1979 by D. Esther Swain:

"Yes, I will open a kindergarten for one year if you will find for me eight likeable boys and girls, a sunny room, some usable furniture, plenty of good books, and pay me $100.00 a month," I finally answered the two persistent and persuasive professors' wives in June 1929. Then I left for a summer of vacation fun, never dreaming they could or would filfill all requests. But they did! And that is how "Mrs. Swain's Kindergarten" came into being...

Mrs. Swain had arrived in Allentown in 1929, when her husband joined the faculty of Muhlenberg College. When the women in the neighborhood learned that she had been a teacher, they persuaded her to open a kindergarten. The mothers gathered books and supplies, and located a spare upstairs bedroom in the neighborhood they could rent for classroom space.

In October 1929, the little kindergarten opened with four boys and four girls as requested. They used orange crates for bookshelves and sat in a circle on the floor for songs, games and stories, since there were not enough chairs to do otherwise.

The first year was cut short by a whooping cough epidemic, but opened again the following September at a new location and now with 19 students. The school rented rooms at the Masonic Temple on Linden Street, a large imposing building across from a lush city park.

For the next 15 years, the school grew steadily, adding grades as the youngsters aged (left: the 1937 "viewbook"). Mrs. Swain taught ... created the curriculum ... ran the business-end of things ... and even cooked the children's lunch each day on a hot plate!

In 1945, the growing school moved again, and soon a middle school program had been added. By 1950 the school had once again outgrown its space. At this point, Miss Marjorie Allison, a friend of Mrs. Swain's, drove her to a 22-acre alfalfa field in southern Allentown and asked, "Will this do for your school?"

At Home on South 24th Street

In 1951, Swain opened at our present location with 91 students and nine teachers. Each fall, more trees were planted on Dedication Day (now called Founder's Day), resulting in the beautiful campus we now know. The original building (where the Main Office and Preschool/STEAM wing are located) has been added onto numerous times, so that we now enjoy a top-notch facility. Today, the Swain community includes 323 students, and a faculty and staff of more than 75 professionals.

We will presume that Mrs. Swain did not envision her little kindergarten growing into the impressive educational institution it is now, 85 years later!