John Clark Dore (March 22, 1822 – December 14, 1900) was an American educator and politician from

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

. A graduate of

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

, Dore briefly taught in Boston, Massachusetts before he was recruited to come to

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

to serve as its first superintendent of school. Dore was also a successful merchant, serving as the vice president of the

Chicago Board of Trade The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), established on April 3, 1848, is one of the world's oldest futures and options exchanges. On July 12, 2007, the CBOT merged with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) to form CME Group. CBOT and three other excha ...

. He was elected to the

Illinois Senate The Illinois Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state, State of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adop ...

in 1868, where he helped to establish the Illinois Humane Society.

Early life and early career

John Clark Dore was born in

Ossipee, New Hampshire Ossipee is a town in Carroll County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 4,372 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Carroll County. Ossipee, which includes several villages, is a resort area and home to part of Pine River S ...

, on March 22, 1822. He was first authorized to teach when he was seventeen. He matriculated at

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 A head master, head instructor, bureaucrat, headmistress, head, chancellor, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the teacher, staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school ...

of the Boylston School, and attracted the attention of educators in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Superintendent of Chicago Public Schools

On March 6, 1854, the Chicago

school board A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...

voted Dore as its first superintendent of public schools. The board's first choice, John D. Philbrick, had previously declined. He officially entered office in June 1854. At the time he took office, Chicago's school system lacked organization, and the sole power the superintendent had was the power that the school board gave him. 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 The Chicago City Council is the legislative branch of the government of the City of Chicago in Illinois. It consists of 50 alderpersons elected from 50 wards to serve four-year terms. The council is gaveled into session regularly, usually mont ...

. He introduced examinations to re-classify students and determine promotions, he organized departments, instituted in uniformity of

textbook A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions. Schoolbooks are textboo ...

s, and had instituted official the keeping of class registers and attendance records. He resigned on March 15, 1856. 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 A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

) had been constructed.

Chicago Board of Education and Chicago Board of Trade

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 The Chicago Board of Education serves as the board of education (school board) for the Chicago Public Schools. The board traces its origins to the Board of School Inspectors, created in 1837. The board is currently appointed solely by the mayor ...

(its newly-renamed school board). From 1860 to February 1861 he served as

president of the Chicago Board of Education The Chicago Board of Education is led by a president. The current President of the Chicago Board of Education is Miguel del Valle. Since the 1995 Chicago School Reform Amendatory Act went into effect, the president has been directly appointed b ...

. At the same time, he was succeeding in his business affairs. He was named vice president of the

in 1866.

Illinois Senate

He was elected to the

in 1868 as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

, serving for four years. He represented the South and Northern parts of Chicago, and several outlying towns. He unsuccessfully opposed the Lake-Front Bill of 1869, through which the State of Illinois gave the land rights of the outer harbor of the city of Chicago to the

Illinois Central Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also co ...

Company. He was chairman of the Committee of the State Senate on Internal Improvements, and framed the bill which made the first appropriation to improve the navigability of the

Illinois River The Illinois River ( mia, Inoka Siipiiwi) is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River and is approximately long. Located in the U.S. state of Illinois, it has a drainage basin of . The Illinois River begins at the confluence of the D ...

by constructing a lock and dam at

Henry, Illinois Henry is a city in Marshall County, Illinois, United States. The population was 2,464 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Peoria, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Henry is named after General James D. Henry, and was initially ...

. He also authored laws regarding the humane treatment of children and animals.

Subsequent career

Dore would serve as president and director of the Illinois Humane Society for several years. 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 The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned in the American city of Chicago during October 8–10, 1871. The fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed roughly of the city including over 17,000 structures, and left more than 10 ...

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.

Personal life and death

Dore married Annie B. Moulton on January 1, 1850. Their only son died in infancy. In his last years, he resided in Boston. 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.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dore, John Clark 1822 births 1900 deaths Dartmouth College alumni Republican Party Illinois state senators People from Ossipee, New Hampshire Politicians from Chicago Businesspeople from Illinois 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American businesspeople Superintendents of Chicago Public Schools Presidents of the Chicago Board of Education American school principals