Alice Davis House

Miss Davis was born in Chicago but her family moved to St. Charles when she was a schoolgirl. Alice attended the West Side School and the St. Charles High School (also known as the Charles Haines School) on the northwest corner of 7th Avenue and Main Street. After graduating high school in 1901, Alice attended the DeKalb Normal School for teacher training. Today, the DeKalb Normal School is Northern Illinois University. 

Over the next 16 years, Alice would intermittently return to St. Charles and teach at the West Side School and the Charles Haines School. When she was not teaching, she furthered her education at Northwestern University in Evanston and later at the University of Chicago. For nine years, Alice lived in River Forest and Highland Park, teaching junior high.

In 1919, Miss Davis returned to St. Charles for good. She went back to teaching junior high students at the Charles Haines School, and in the mid-1920s, she became the principal of the Haines Junior High School. Alice retired in 1950 and in 1956 was honored for her dedication to St. Charles schools with a grade school named in her honor. 

Alice was always interested in history, she wrote the first St. Charles history book “The Settlement and Growth of St. Charles”, her students created dioramas depicting various scenes from St. Charles history, and at one time she served as the President of the St. Charles Historical Society. In addition to her service in the schools and her interest in history, Miss Davis was active in the local Women’s Business and Professional Club and the Congregational Church of St. Charles.