John Clark Dore

John Clark Dore was born in Ossipee, New Hampshire, on March 22, 1822. He was first authorized to teach when he was seventeen. He matriculated at Dartmouth College when he was twenty-one, graduating in 1847. Dore was then named an assistant teacher in a public school in Boston, Massachusetts. He was first taught, and was later made school principal of the Boylston School,[2] and attracted the attention of educators in Chicago, Illinois.

On March 6, 1854, the Chicago school board voted Dore as its first superintendent of public schools.[2][3] The board's first choice, John D. Philbrick, had previously declined.[1][2] He officially entered office in June 1854.[1] At the time he took offie, Chicago's school system lacked organization, and the sole power the superintendent had was the power that the school board gave him.[2] Dore brought many reforms, but his ability to introduce sufficient reform was limited because schools were largely under the purview of the Chicago Common Council.[2] He introduced examinations to re-classify students and determine promotions, he organized departments, instituted in uniformity of textbooks, and had instituted official the keeping of class registers and attendance records.[2] He resigned on March 15, 1856.[2] When he left, school enrollment had doubled to more than 6,100, 46 new instructors had been hired, and four new schools (including a high school) had been constructed.[2]

He had resigned as superintendent so that he could pursue a business opportunity and was soon elected a member of the Chicago Board of Education (its newly-renamed school board). From 1860 to 1861 he served as president of the Chicago Board of Education alongside J. W. Foster.[1] At the same time, he was succeeding in his business affairs. He was named vice president of the Chicago Board of Trade in 1866. He was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1868 as a Republican, serving for four years. He authored the laws for the establishment of the Illinois Humane Society and would serve as its president and director for several years.[3]

He assumed the presidency of the Commercial Insurance Company, then was named president of the Chicago Board of Underwriters in 1869. Following the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, he was named the president of the State Savings Institution, resigning in 1873. Dore also presided over the Newsboys' and Bootblacks' Home and donated a building to them in 1884.[3]

Dore married Annie B. Moulton on January 1, 1850. Their only son died in infancy.[3] He died at the Hotel Vendome in Boston on December 14, 1900, and was buried in the Herman Dore Farm Cemetery in Ossipee. The John C. Dore Elementary School in Chicago today bears his name.[3]