Ferris Girls' Junior & Senior High School
High school in Yokohama, Japan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ferris Girls' Junior & Senior High School (フェリス女学院中学校・高等学校 Ferisu Jogakuin Chūgakkō Kōtōgakkō) is a junior and senior high school for girls in Yokohama. It is a part of Ferris Jogakuin (学校法人フェリス女学院).
| Ferris Girls' Junior & Senior High School | |
|---|---|
Japanese: フェリス女学院中学校・高等学校 | |
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 | |
| Information | |
| Former names | |
| Motto | For Others |
| Established | 1870 |
| Founder | Mary Eddy Kidder |
| Gender | Mixed (1870 - September 1871) Girls (September 1871-present) |
| Website | www |
History
The institution began in 1870,[1] when the first unmarried female missionary of the Dutch Reformed Church in Japan,[2] Mary Eddy Kidder began teaching at a facility established by Clara Hepburn, wife of James Curtis Hepburn.[3] The Hepburns had established their girls' school in 1862.[2] Kidder established her "Miss Kidder's School for Girls" after the Hepburns left Japan.[3] This was Japan's first mission-sponsored school,[4] and the country's first higher learning institution for women.[3] Initially Kidder's classes had boys, but in September 1871 she restricted her classes to girls only.[5]
The school was named "Isaac Ferris Seminary" (フェリス･セミナリー Ferisu Seminarī), after the head of the Reformed Church Board of Foreign Missions Isaac Ferris, in 1875.[6] That year, its school and residence facilities were built at 178 Yamate. It was renamed to Ferris Waei Jogakkō (フェリス和英女学校 Ferisu Waei Jogakkō; "Ferris Japanese-English Girls' School") in 1889.[1] Mary Deyo of New York was a teacher at Ferris Seminary from 1888 to 1894.[7]
During the Great Kantō earthquake of 1923 the headmistress, Miss Kuyper, died, and school buildings were destroyed. A building in the Yamate Campus named after Kuyper, Kuyper Memorial Hall, opened in 1929.[1]
In 1941 the school was renamed Yokohama Yamate Girls' School (横浜山手女学院 Yokohama Yamate Jogakuin);[1] this temporary name change occurred during an anti-English language sentiment during World War II era Japan.[8] It was renamed Ferris Girls' School in 1951.[1]