We have many institutions which give
comfortable homes, but here, in addition, girls are receiving
the best education of which they are capable, and an opportunity
given for training and development which was never before
offered gratuitously.
- Miss Helen J. Rowe |
History
Samuel Ready, Gentleman of Baltimore
A simple gravestone in Green Mount Cemetery marks the last resting
place of Samuel Ready, a quietly successful business man of nineteenth
century Baltimore whose bequest has created an equally successful
legacy of quality education for promising young girls facing family
hardships.
Samuel Ready was born on March 8, 1789 on a farm in the area of
Baltimore County known as Patapsco Neck. Around 1804, he came to
Baltimore apprenticed to a sailmaking firm. He served in the War
of 1812 before embarking on successful business ventures in sailmaking,
lumber and  real
estate. He served on the City Council and as a Judge of Elections.
After his retirement from the lumber business in 1861, the bachelor
gentleman, who had lived simply with a niece and her family, began
to formulate plans for endowing a new kind of institution for orphan
girls that would be as academically vigorous as charitably hearted.
When Samuel Ready died on November 28, 1871, the bulk of his estate
went to the creation of just such an institution.
Samuel Ready School
 Samuel
Ready School opened on November 1, 1887, with seven girls. The original
location was a roomy building on a 16-acre estate called Belmont,
later to become the northeast corner of North Avenue and Harford
Road. The first principal, Helen J. Rowe, largely defined the school
as the effective combination of a school and a home. In a groundbreaking
effort, she gave great weight to both cultural interests and professional
career guidance. She guided the school from its founding until her
death in 1919. From 1921 until 1949, Mary E. Krekel served as school
head, a period that saw significant change and expansion for the
school. In 1937, the School sold the original location and moved
to a new building on the City-County boundary at 5150 Old Frederick
Road. Subsequent heads of school were Evangeline Lewis (1949-1963);
Constance P. Walters (1963-1974); and Jackson E. Heffner (1974-1977).
As operating costs increased and enrollment declined, an annual
operating budget deficit was reducing the endowment principal. Board
of Trustees decided to close the school in June 1977 and to become
a scholarship organization in order to preserve effectively the
intent of the endowment. Thus, though the history of Samuel Ready
School ended in June 1977, the quiet philanthropy of Samuel Ready
and the traditions of the school that bore his name continue in
another context.
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