HIDDEN GEM: Clearing House Savannah uncovers kindergarten's outlaw roots

Did you know that it was once illegal to teach a kindergarten class?

Well, in Prussia, at least, where the kindergarten movement began under Friedrich Fröbel, a German educator and proponent of better methods of educating young children. "He himself had a bad experience with education because I think he would probably have been considered learning disabled, " said Clearing House co-owner and retired Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) writing faculty member James Lough.

These and other amazing facts about what has since become a universal standard of education throughout the world are part of Historic Kindergarten Tours now being offered by Clearing House Savannah , 134 Houston St.

Lough said the tours share the secret history behind the movement, why the Prussian government banned kindergarten and how it eventually helped Juliette Gordon Low and others create the Girl Scouts of America. He hopes the community is as interested in this history as he and co-founder (and SCAD Performing Arts Professor) Jennefer Morris-Lough have been, even though they had not foreseen being tour guides.

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Not initially planned

Lough acknowledged that the Clearing House had been established as a center for art and spirit by providing classes in yoga, breathwork, tai chi, meditation and creative writing. At a ribbon cutting for the kindergarten tours on July 24, Lough said, "I started doing research at the historic society about the building, and I was flabbergasted at all this information."

Built in 1899, the building had been the Kate Baldwin Free Kindergarten, which was planned as “a benevolent and charitable institution for the free training, instruction, and education of young children under the kindergarten system of education,” according to the Clearing House's website. Children of all backgrounds were encouraged to attend per Fröbel's original vision of the institution.

Morris said the Clearing House had always intended to maintain the "creative spirit" championed by kindergarten since the center's inception. The tours simply add another avenue toward that goal.

Lough said Fröbel was conducting his education reform work from roughly 1850 to 1890 while the kindergarten society in Savannah started in 1892. The Savannah-Chatham County Public School System (SCCPSS) started out with about seven kindergarten classes, but the institution is now a staple of early childhood education across the country. Not only does SCCPSS offer kindergarten at all its elementary and K-8 schools, it also offers 65 Georgia lottery-funded pre-K classes .

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Schedule a tour

Clearing House encourages the community to come back to kindergarten to learn through play (no, seriously, they even have a collection of classic kindergarten toys).

Tour dates and times vary so be sure to review the tour calendar to reserve a spot at clearinghousesavannah.com/kindergarten/ .

Tickets are $25 for adults and $10 for children.

Joseph Schwartzburt is the education and workforce development reporter for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at JSchwartzburt@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: HIDDEN GEM: Clearing House Savannah uncovers kindergarten's outlaw roots