Gertrude Hull

Gertrude Hull (November 16, 1866 – March 22, 1947) was an American educator. She received a teacher's degree in 1894 from the University of Michigan and was salutatorian when she received another degree in 1895 from Southern Illinois Normal College. She was a teacher of history in the Milwaukee school system for over 40 years. She was the manager of the history department at Milwaukee West Side High School, and coached and privately tutored General Douglas MacArthur in preparation for his passing his West Point entrance examinations.

Early life

Gertrude Hull was born in Bloomington, Illinois, on November 16, 1866. Her parents were John Hull and Mary Hull. She had a sister named Bertha, was four years younger than Gertrude. In 1875, Gertrude's family moved to Carbondale, Illinois, where she grew up and attended public school. Her father was then a mathematics professor at Southern Illinois Normal College and became its president in 1892.

Middle life and career

Hull enrolled at the University of Michigan in 1890 and received a teacher's degree in 1894. In a survey of female students of the university on the alumni they were most influenced by and admired, Hull responded it was Alice Freeman Palmer. She then entered Southern Illinois Normal College and graduated salutatorian with another degree in 1895. Hull's first job was as principal of the high school at Henry, Illinois, in 1895, where she worked for almost two years. From late 1896 to the winter of 1897, she worked as a history teacher at the high school in Bloomington. In mid-1897, Hull resigned her position, moved to Milwaukee and became a teacher in the history department of West Side High School.

Hull said in a 1942 radio interview that one day in 1897, Douglas MacArthur's mother took him to Hull's school to get some quick lessons. At the time Hull was a lead instructor at the school and she became MacArthur's history tutor and an assistant coach in other subjects. She was a key influence in MacArthur's passing of the West Point entrance examination because of the lesson preparations she did.

MacArthur and his mother were then living at the exclusive Plankinton House Hotel to establish a temporary residence in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was two miles (3.2 km) from the high school and MacArthur had to walk the distance each school day for several months while being tutored by Hull. She said MacArthur one day worked on one of her specially prepared practice exam questionnaires for over three hours and later submitted a paper that received a 99% grade.

Because of Hull's coaching and special teaching, MacArthur passed the West Point examinations ahead of all others by at least fifteen percent, scoring 93.3% overall. He received 700 of 750 total points on the examinations. MacArthur competed against twelve other students for the congressional cadet-ship appointment to West Point; Because of his preparedness, Milwaukee congressman Theobald Otjen selected MacArthur for entrance to the United States Military Academy.

Later life and death

Hull later became the manager of the history department of Milwaukee West Side High School, where she worked until 1937, teaching for over 40 years before retiring from the school system. Hull lived on Kilbourn Avenue, Milwaukee, during the last half of her life. She died at her home on March 22, 1947, at the age of 80. The ''Michigan Almunus'' of University of Michigan noted that Hull enjoyed traveling to Europe and Hawaii to learn their cultures, and made frequent trips.

Memberships

Hull was a president of the Illinois College Women's Club and a secretary of the
General Society of Mayflower Descendants. She was also a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Woman's Club of Wisconsin, The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America, Society of the Founders and Patriots of America, and the sorority Kappa Alpha Theta.

References

Sources

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hull, Gertrude
1866 births
1947 deaths
People from Bloomington, Illinois
People from Carbondale, Illinois
People from Milwaukee
People in history occupations
University of Michigan School of Education alumni
Southern Illinois University alumni
Educators from Illinois
Educators from Wisconsin
American women educators
Douglas MacArthur
American high school teachers