Luther Clark Foster

Superintendent of Schools 1875-1895

ruler bar

Luther Clark Foster was born at Canton, Bradford County, Pa., May 24, 1828, and died in Ithaca, February 13, 1895. He received his education at Farmington, Ohio. At the age of sixteen years he began teaching, boarding around; at twenty, he taught what was called a select school in Maury County, Tenn., where he remained four years in the midst of slavery. In 1852 he came to Elmira, N. Y., engaging in business occupations. In 1855 he became principle of Public School No. I in Elmira. The school was in bad condition; private schools flourished in the city. He managed the school with such success that it soon became very popular. His work was practically the beginning of good schools in Elmira. Here he remained twenty years, during which the present very large structure was erected. In Elmira he made a reputation as an extraordinarily good teacher and thorough educator.

In 1875, Mr. FOSTER was called to Ithaca and was superintendent of schools here from that time until his death. The years of his service in Ithaca were years of endless and untiring labor , much of it the most grinding detail, which he carried without a murmur, it being his whole purpose in life to make the Ithaca schools as good as the funds at his disposal would permit. He laid the foundations of the system of schools as it exists today. He met every sort of problem, and solved it as well as was possible under the circumstances. At the beginning of his service here he maintained the necessity of the free High School, which at once took the place of the old Ithaca Academy, then a private school. It is his hand that is to be seen in all the history of the Ithaca High School, from its beginning, laying out the courses of study, adjusting the organization of the school. There is nothing in the present organization which is not an elaboration of the organization as he left it.

Mr. FOSTER's management of the schools was economical. The first year after he came here the tax was $21,000; later it dropped even to $14,000. In 1880-81 it rose to $19,000, when the East Hill school building was built. In 1883-84 it dropped to $13,429. Afterward when the present High School building was erected the tax rose to $20,000. In the last year of his administration the tax was $22,500.

During his nineteen and one-half years of service in Ithaca, Mr. FOSTER missed but one meeting of the Board of Education and that was the last meeting before his death. He was a modest man. He never asserted himself but took great pride in doing his work well, letting that speak for him. In his last days he took great satisfaction in and was deeply touched by the appreciation which the citizens of Ithaca manifested for him and his work. He persevered until the end; he wanted to die in the harness and so he did.

Thank you Mary Kreps for transcribing these records into digital format.

You are our visitor since November 14, 1998.
Thanks for stopping by!

Return to Teachers page
Return to School Page
Return to Tompkins County Home Page