On Fridays we post something on social media that is either a Fact or is Fiction. People can comment which they think it is before heading here for the correct answer. Here is Friday Fact or Fiction #34!
Today’s Post: George Junior Republic was established at Grove City, PA, Dec. 1, 1909. Isaac Ketler became the first administrator and teacher at the school.
Answer: FACT! Here is more information on the subject as found on the Grove City Area Historical Society’s website:
George Junior Republic was founded as a private, nonprofit residential treatment community for wayward boys and girls. George Junior Republic was founded on the sociological concepts William George who saw youthful self-government as a means of personal development. It operated as a self-governing republic, a small village where the residents were engaged in self-supporting enterprises and administered their own laws. The resident boys and girls
were required to pay for all that they received through their labor.
John Baker ―Morgan Barnes from Grove City College and Pittsburgh attorneys Leonard S. Levin, Samuel Wylie Black, and R. T. M. McCready were instrumental in the establishment of George Junior Republic in Grove City. This group decided that Grove City would be a good location for a school. They contacted William George to pursue forming a republic. In 1909, a group from William George’s republic in Freeville, N.Y. visited the site in Grove City, Pennsylvania, to
discuss establishing a George Junior Republic of Western Pennsylvania. As a result of this visit it was decided Grove City would be a good site.
The community raised $6,000 for the project and purchased an 80-acre farm from John McKain for the Republic. The property also included three building as well as outbuildings. A parade was held in 1909 and the opening of the Republic was announced at the Carnegie building on Broad Street. The Republic was established at Grove City, Pa., Dec. 1, 1909. Isaac Ketler became the first administrator and teacher at the school.