William Torrey Harris (September 10, 1835 – November 5, 1909) was an American educator, philosopher, and lexicographer. He worked for nearly a quarter century in St. Louis, Missouri, where he taught school and served as Superintendent of Schools for twelve years. With Susan Blow, in 1873 he established the first permanent, public kindergarten in the country. He is also known for establishing high school as an integral part of public education. Increasingly interested in Hegelian philosophy, he was cofounder of Journal of Speculative Philosophy (1867), the first philosophical journal in the US. He also worked with Amos Bronson Alcott's Concord School of Philosophy. In 1889 Harris was appointed as US Commissioner of Education, and served in that role, under four presidents, until 1906. Biography Born in 1835 in North Killingly, Connecticut, he attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. He completed two years at Yale College, then moved West. Beginning at age 22, Harris taught school and made his career in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1857 to 1880, a period when the city was growing rapidly. It served both as a gateway to the West and as an industrializing city on the Mississippi River. He served as Superintendent of Schools from 1868 to 1880, and had a strong influence on the system. With Susan E. Blow in this city, in 1873 he established America's first permanent public kindergarten. While in St. Louis, William Torrey Harris implemented many influential ideas to strengthen both the institution of the public school system and the basic philosophical principles of education. His changes resulted in the expansion of the public school curriculum to include high school. He believed it was essential to growth of an individual and to meet new challenges of the industrial age. The expanded programs included art, music, and scientific and manual studies. He also encouraged all public schools to acquire libraries. Harris's St. Louis schools were considered some of the best in the country. His fellow educators included many local farmers and tradesemen who were immigrants from German provinces after the failed revolutions of 1848. They had a strong belief in education. In St. Louis, Harris met mechanic and philosopher Henry Clay Brockmeyer, a German immigrant whose influence turned him toward Hegelianism. With Brockmeyer and other of the St. Louis Hegelians, Harris founded and edited the Journal of Speculative Philosophy (1867); it was the first philosophical periodical in the United States. He