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CHESTER SPRINGS SOLDIERSí ORPHANS SCHOOL 1868-1912

ELEANOR MOORE

PRINCIPAL

ELEANOR BECHTEL MOORE (1839-1926) was born in Birchrunville and in 1859 married David Moore who served in the Civil War.  Following the war, the family moved to Arkansas to help in Reconstruction with freed slaves.  Her husband and son died of cholera and in 1867 Ellen (as she was known to her friends) returned to Pennsylvania with her two surviving children.  She lived with the Lewis sisters, maiden Quaker ladies in Kimberton who had raised and educated her.

In 1868, Eleanor Moore became a matron at the newly established Pennsylvania Soldiersí Orphans School and eventually moved into the Cottage (present Lincoln Building) which served as the girlsí dormitory.  Board of Trustees Matthew Simpson McCullough contributed to a Literary and Reading Room and the term ìLiterary Instituteî was added to the school name.

In 1873, Mrs. Moore was appointed principal of the Chester Springs School becoming the only female principal in the state orphan system.  It was said she has ìby her continued success, demonstrated the fact that a modest lady is fully competent to discharge the varied and responsible duties of the position she occupies.î  She was paid the sum of $1,000 a year in salary which was equal to that paid to a man.  In the WOMENíS JOURNAL, Graceanne Lewis wrote  that Eleanorís position was ìa just tribute to womanhood of the highest order.î  The widowed Eleanor married Mr. McCullough in 1882 and resigned her position as principal.

Eleanor Moore served as a role model for all women at this early time.  She was educated, took a leadership role as director of a school and commanded equal pay in the working world.  When she died in 1926, she was called ìthe great friend of the soldiersí orphans.î