Sabin, Ellen (1850–1949)

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Sabin, Ellen (1850–1949)

American educator and administrator. Born Ellen Clara Sabin in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, on November 29, 1850; died in Madison, Wisconsin, on February 2, 1949; daughter of Samuel Sabin (a farmer) and Adelia Sabin; educated at the local school; attended the University of Wisconsin, 1886–89; never married; no children.

Became the first woman principal and the first woman superintendent of schools in Portland, Oregon.

Born into a farm family in Wisconsin in 1850, Ellen Sabin, called Ella by her intimates, was the oldest of eleven children. Her father had made his fortune in California during the gold rush that began in 1849, and then returned to Wisconsin to settle down. Sabin grew up on a 300-acre farm and attended school at the local schoolhouse, where she quickly excelled. When she was 15, she entered the University of Wisconsin and also began teaching in her hometown of Sun Prairie. Her development of a system of visual aids in the teaching of geography was one of her earliest innovations in the field of teaching. She then moved from third-and fourth-grade classes in Sun Prairie to a seventh-grade class in Madison, winning appointment as principal of the Fourth Ward School within months of arriving there.

In 1872, Sabin's father again sought adventures in the West and moved the family to Eugene, Oregon. Sabin quickly resumed her work, establishing her own one-room schoolhouse as competition to the rundown schoolhouse in Eugene. She gained a great deal of attention for a paper she presented at the State Teachers' Institute in Salem, Oregon, and, at age 22, was nominated for state superintendent of schools. Although she turned down the offer, she did take a teaching post at the Old North School of Portland. As it had in Wisconsin, her performance there merited her ascending to the position of principal a year later, the first woman so appointed in Portland.

While principal, Sabin continued her innovative approach to teaching. Rather than using corporal punishment as discipline, she met with students and their families, often traveling through dangerous neighborhoods to visit them at home. She encouraged her students' skills by establishing a tutoring program whereby more able pupils helped those who were struggling. Though she insisted on a mastery of traditional subjects, she also recognized the need for practical training. Sabin helped the boys get jobs by speaking with overseers at businesses and factories. She spent 1886 in Europe, receiving training in educational procedures, and upon her return to Portland in 1887 became superintendent of Portland's schools. No other large U.S. city had a woman in such a position.

During these years, Sabin's reputation increased, and in 1891 she signed on as president of Downer College for Women in Wisconsin. Although the job paid only half what she had received in Portland, she looked forward to the freedom to develop the institution, unfettered by committees or school boards. Quickly realizing that the school's backwater location put it at a disadvantage, in 1895 she began to orchestrate its merger with the poorly led Milwaukee College for Women. She became president of the new institution, Milwaukee-Downer College, upon the merger's completion in 1897. During her tenure, Milwaukee-Downer College expanded greatly, gaining full recognition from the college accreditation board, tripling its endowment, and expanding to a 43-acre campus. Once again, Sabin emphasized traditional learning and practical skills, and the school offered bachelor's degrees as well as diplomas in nursing and home economics.

The recipient of honorary doctorates from Grinnell College and Benoit College and a member of several educational associations, Sabin retired in 1921. In 1945, she was honored by the Wisconsin branch of the American Association of University Women, which named its national graduate fellowship after her. Ellen Sabin died in Madison, Wisconsin, on February 2, 1949, age 98. Milwaukee-Downer College would remain in operation until 1964, when it merged with Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin.