A teacher and philanthropist born just before the Civil War, Grace Hoadley Dodge (1856 - 1914) was perhaps the most significant driving force in the creation of Teachers College. In 1880, she established a Greenwich Village “kitchen garden” school to teach practical arts like cooking, sewing and more to New York’s immigrant women seeking better lives for themselves and their families.
Seven years later, the school moved to West 120th Street and evolved into something much greater: TC, the nation’s first institution devoted to teacher education, for which Dodge served as trustee and the school’s first treasurer.
“Grace Hoadley Dodge’s innovation at a time of massive social change is infused in the DNA of Teachers College and the work we’ve pursued for more than 138 years,” said President Thomas Bailey. “Carrying on in Dodge’s footsteps, generations of TC alumni, faculty and students have boldly pursued solutions geared toward providing opportunity — and it is this unique origin story that continues to serve as our guiding light today.”
Despite its name, Teachers College was founded on the proposition that education alone can’t correct our society’s inequalities, and integrated advancements in health and psychology are also critical. Dodge’s approach set the stage for TC’s creation of interdisciplinary fields such as education psychology, nutrition education, special education, and more that address the holistic success of all people.
Beyond Dodge’s work at Teachers College, the philanthropist helped organize one of the first societies for working women; brought two opposing young women’s groups together to form the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) of the United States; and led the international movement to protect migrants and immigrant women by creating the New York Traveller’s Aid Society and helping form the National Traveller’s Aid Society.
Dodge is remembered as having “the 100-year look—that is, she looked ahead a century and made her plans accordingly,” as The New York Tribune wrote in a 1915 obituary of the philanthropist. As just one example: a scholarship she created is still supporting TC students today and her enduring values have guided TC since its founding. Grace Dodge's nephew, Cleveland E. Dodge, served on TC’s board for 67 years and as chair of the board for 30 years. Her great-grand nephew William D. Rueckert has served as Chair Emeritus of the Board of Trustees since 2022, following five years of leadership and service on the Board since 1997.
Rueckert once reflected: “Grace Dodge believed that education was the critical pathway through which human beings could lead happier, healthier, more productive lives.”
[Learn about the Grace Dodge Society, whose members plan to support TC through their wills, trusts or other planned gifts.]