GREENE: Local legend has Chicago school named after her
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This statue of Annie Louise Keller which stands in Whiteside Park in White Hall was done by Chicago sculptor Lorado Taft. It was recently discovered that there is a grade school in Chicago named after Keller. (Carmen Ensinger/Greene Prairie Press)
By Carmen Ensinger
Local hero Annie Louise Keller, who gave her life in 1927 to save the lives of her students when a tornado struck the Centerville School, isn’t just a local legend – her fame extends all the way to the Windy City.
The city of Chicago is home to the Annie Keller Elementary Gifted Magnet School, one of 10 regional gifted centers in the Chicago Public School system. Keller services the needs of diverse, gifted and talented students who are tested for enrollment across Chicago. The programs at Keller are accelerated and challenging – a far cry from the teachings of Annie Keller herself in the one-room schoolhouse at Centerville.
The discovery was made by White Hall resident Dennis Wyatt.
“I was looking something up about test scores on the internet and I saw the name and I thought to myself that that couldn’t be the same name as up here in the park,” Wyatt said. “So I did a little research on the internet and sure enough, it said the school was named after her and I thought that was just odd.”
Odd until he got to thinking about it.
“Then I started to put two and two together and then it kind of made sense to me,” Wyatt said. “They commissioned Lorado Taft to do the statue of Keller that is in the park and he is from Chicago, so I’m assuming that has something to do with the school up there.”
Lorado Taft was a sculptor, author and educator in Chicago for nearly five decades. Born in 1860, he graduated from the University of Illinois and then attended art school in Paris before returning to Chicago where he opened a studio and joined the faculty of the Art Institute in 1886.
By 1891, his growing reputation led to an important assignment to design sculpture for William LeBaron Jenney’s Horticultural Building at the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893. He went on to complete several large scale public projects including the 50-foot tall Blackhawk in Oregon, Ill. In 1911, the Fountain of the Great Lakes in Chicago in 1913, The Fountain of Time in Chicago in 1922 and Alma Mater in Urbana in 1929.
But before his death in 1936, he found the time to do the statue of Annie Louise Keller which has stood in Whiteside Park in White Hall for almost 100 years now.
“They say that Annie’s sister was the model for the sculpture,” Wyatt said. “They also said that the statue was paid for with pennies the school children contributed.”
The story of Annie Louise Keller is a tragic one.
Keller was teaching school at Centerville School to her class of 16 on April 19, 1927 when a large tornado roared through Greene County.
The story goes that Miss Keller looked out the window as the sky grew darker and the atmosphere became heavy and still and she wondered if a big storm was headed that way.
After lunch, the wind suddenly got stronger and a small shed west of the building was blown away. Realizing the situation was serious, Annie quickly herded the children to their seats telling them to get under their desks immediately.
The tornado struck at 12:18 p.m. and much of the top of the building was blown off. Keller’s attention was on the children and she was unprotected. She was struck by flying debris and was killed instantly. A few of the students suffered some injuries, but none were killed.
Annie had graduated from White Hall High School in 1920. She taught four years in other schools and was in her third year at Centerville when she was killed at the age of 25. She was born on Oct. 31, 1901 to Philip and Nora Russell Keller. Her mother was the granddaughter of Dr. John Russell. Dr. Russell built a stone house a few miles north of Eldred at the foot of the bluffs known as Bluffdale Farms.
Annie’s fiancé, Howard Hobson, was first to arrive at the scene of the tragedy. Her funeral was held on April 24 and she was buried in the Russell Family Cemetery close to Bluffdale.
The monument to Keller in Whiteside Park contains the names of all of the children whose lives she saved that fateful day.
Wyatt said he called the school and was shocked to find out one piece of information.
“I asked them if they had a picture of the statue in Whiteside Park and they didn’t even know about it, much less have a photo of it,” he said. “I told them, don’t you think you need to make a field trip down here with at least some of your students and get a photograph with it since your school is named after her.”
Something to think about at least.
