Westport Main School

Pictured on a recent post card made from an original photograph is the old Westport Main School, erected in 1868 at the corner of Waddell and Summit (later the site of the A.M. Allen School), with pupils and teacher posed in the school yard. Early Westport homes are in the background. The Westport Main School can be traced to 1854 when the school was located in the basement of the Westport Methodist Church at what is now 40th and Washington. The Rev. Nathan Scarritt was pastor and became the first teacher at the school. Voters met in 1856 to authorize the Westport school board to collect a tax of $1,000 to purchase the basement rooms of the church, making it the first tax-supported school in Kansas City. It sometimes was called the pauper school by those who opposed tax-supported, or free, education. Many small private schools in Kansas City and Westport, such as Patterson Stewart's, on a country road (now 12th between Troost and Forest) were in existence. Nominal fees for their children's education were paid by the parents. Arthur Mason Allen was hired in April 1857 for $45 a month to teach in the Westport Methodist Church basement school. After the Civil War the Westport Main School, as pictured, was constructed at a cost of $12,000. Allen, who by then had become Judge Allen, became treasurer of the new Westport Board of Education, a position held from 1868 to 1899. Twice the school funds were lost due to bank failures and both times the loss was made up by Judge Allen from his personal funds. (Allen was also active in forming what is now the Westport branch of the public library.) The old school was razed and a new one constructed in 1895. It was officially named the A.M. Allen School in 1899 when it was annexed by the Kansas City School District. A third building was constructed on the property in 1912 with an addition in 1927. Allen School was closed in June 1938 due to decreasing enrollment. However, as a result of the efforts of Westport residents who opposed the closing, the school was reopened in September 1938. The school was closed again in 1976 and remained empty for two years. It is now owned by the Westport Cooperative Mission, Inc. and has become the Westport Allen Center. It is being renovated for use as a community center. Roger L. Coleman, a co-director of the Westport Cooperative Mission, supplied the post card. Kansas City Times, June 5, 1981.