Everett School, St. Joseph, Missouri.Photo by25or6to4, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The historic Everett School is at 826 South 14th Street in St. Joseph, Missouri. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 15, 2005.

The architectural style of this building is Late 19th and Early 20th Century: Colonial Revival. The foundation and walls are brick. The architect firm was Meier & Meier.

The school was built in 1909. Two other buildings on the site included on the National Register are the gymnasium and power plant. This historic school is important because of its role in education and its architecture. The school is an example of elementary schools developing in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

However, the building continued to be used as Everett Elementary School until its closure in 1985. The building was purchased later that year and re-opened in the Fall of 1986 as Saint Joseph Christian School, which continues to operate in the building today.

After the Civil War, public schools reopened in 1864 for the resident taxpayers. Classrooms were filled. In 1866, a charter amendment was passed to increase tax collection to construct two more schools. With more funds, the Everett School was built. Only eight of the schools built before 1910 remain. Others were either rebuilt, closed, or demolished.

The original Everett School built in 1866 was at the corner of 12th & Olive Streets. Additions were made to this school in 1871, 1880, and 1904 when modern heat and sanitary closets were installed. In 1908 after a school board meeting, a motion was passed to acquire two corner lots at 14th & Olive to build a new school.

The architect firm of Meier & Meier was awarded the contract to build a new Everett School. The new school was built south of St. Joseph High School (renamed Central High School). After the new Everett School was completed, the old one was sold to the U.S. Army for a field hospital.

Everett School was a neighborhood public elementary school until the January 14, 1985 meeting, when the School Board recommended the school be closed at the end of the school year. This was due to the neighborhood's declining enrollment.

In 1986, the school building was acquired by the Area Ministers for Christ and it opened that fall as the St. Joseph Christian School.

The architects for Everett School, Meier & Meier, used St. Louis prominent architect William B. Ittner's E-plan design for the school.

Everett School was converted into the Everett Apartments and according to the Redfin real estate website, it's on the market. It consists of 22 apartments. Visit here for images.

Edward Everett

According to the 1908-1909 45th Annual Report of the Board of Education for St. Joseph, Everett School was named in honor of Edward Everett. He was a Constitutionalist-Unionist candidate in the 1860 election for vice president.

This party consisted of the Whigs and Know-Nothings who came together and chose Senator John Bell of Tennessee as their presidential nominee. Edward Everett was his running mate. After taking last place in the national election, they soon disbanded. The party did have second place in Missouri and in Buchanan County, they took the popular vote.

Everett was born on April 11, 1794, in Dorchester, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard University in 1811. He was a minister until Harvard offered him the Eliot Professorship of Greek Literature position. He took a four-year sabbatical to receive more training in Europe.

When Everett returned in 1819, he took up editorship of Boston's North American Review, a leading literacy magazine. Regarded as a role model for the new generation of New England intellectuals, Everett expanded his public speaking capabilities by running for the U.S. House of Representatives.

Everett served as a Republican from 1825 to 1835. During this period, he opposed the displacement of the Cherokee, but he didn't openly oppose slavery because of the importance of the cotton industry.

Everett was elected governor of Massachusetts for four consecutive one-year terms. After losing his fifth bid to a Democrat, he returned to Harvard and served as its president for several years. He eventually returned to political life.

Everett was appointed the secretary of state during the last four months of Millard Fillmore's presidency. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1853.

Everett traveled around the country giving speeches and ran for vice president on the Constitutionalist-Union ticket. After the Civil War broke out, Everett supported the war. In 1863, Everett delivered a two-hour speech at Gettysburg, only to be upstaged by President Abraham Lincoln's short closing remarks. Edward Everett died on January 15, 1865, at his home in Boston.

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