History

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 The History of the Lab School really is more than a building. It is the history of all the students that attended.  The following is the rich history of the school.  The "Model" School had its beginnings in the year 1896-97. In that year a fourth grade group of five boys and five girls taught by Miss Mabel Brown was assembled at the college as a campus laboratory school. The fourth grade group became a fifth grade the next year; a kindergarten group was added.  Miss Brown continued in charge of these grades till 1900 when she was succeeded by Miss Mary McKendree.  In 1901 Miss Anna S. Cummings of Massachusetts became a member of the Marshall faculty as a teacher of psychology, ethics, and education.  Miss Cummings as director of the school extended it first to include three grades, then in 1902-03 to include four grades,(first, second, third, fourth) rooms for which were located in the main building.  Two critic teachers  were employed, Miss Sallie Humphreys and Miss Anna Stevens from Greenbrier County.  In 1904 Miss Flora Pope was made assistant to Miss Cummings and Miss Dainty Craig was added to the list of critics. In 1906-07 the subject of art was introduced under the supervision of Mr. E.E. Myers.  Miss Craig was in active charge of the art instruction.  The "Model" school continued to expand so that by 1908 all elementary grades were included.  In 1909-10 Mrs. Harriet Lyon succeeded Miss Pope as assistant. In this year Miss Emma Parker became principal of the upper grades and Miss Anna DeNoon became assistant principal and teacher of mathematics.  By 1912 the ninth grade was added.  The school occupied prominent space in the main building and all grades served as laboratory classes for the normal students.  In 1912 Mrs. Lyon became principal of the training school and directed its activities into wider and more practical functions.  In 1920 Professor J. B. Shouse came to Marshall as Dean of Teachers College and as head of the Department of Education. In this capacity he directed teacher training both on and off the campus. In the year 1924-24 three two-room frame school building were erected for the campus elementary grades.  The junior high grades were left in main building till the year 1927-28 when a new frame building of five rooms were provided. These grades were used as a laboratory school for college students who were preparing for high school teaching.  Mr. R.I. Roudebush of the college faculty became director of high school training.  In 1929-30 Miss Virginia Foulks succeeded Miss Clara Rogers as assistant supervison of student teaching in elementary grades and junior high school. In the fall of 1935 a new training school building was begun as a project of the Works Progress Administration.