“Rose Hoben Welch” is a name most in Galesburg have heard before. We associate the name with the former grade school on the NW side of Galesburg that was named for her, but we may not be familiar with the story of Rose Hoben Welch.
Rose Hoben Welch School was named for Mrs. Welch in 1960. This was a powerful statement by District #205. Welch had retired as a teacher and administrator just 7 years before. To name an entire building in honor of someone who was still alive and retired just a short time certainly was a tremendous honor.
Rose Hoben was born June 7, 1878. She was an 1896 graduate of St. Joseph Academy. At that time St. Joe’s was an all-girls school, and Corpus Christi was an all-boys school. After graduating from St.Joe’s, she went on to graduate from Illinois State Normal College, training to become a teacher.
Rose returned to Galesburg to start teaching in the public schools in 1901. She was a teacher, and then an administrator in the Galesburg public schools until 1953- over 50 years. Most of her career she was the Principal at Mary Allen West in “downtown Galesburg,” but she also served as the Principal of Churchill JH (also in “downtown Galesburg”). In 1953 at the age of 75 years old, she retired. It is believed that she was forced to retire by law of the time.
At 75 years old, she had certainly earned some “golden years of retirement.” Rose Hoben Welch did not choose the “golden years of retirement,” instead she immediately starting teaching first at Corpus Christi, and later at Immaculate Heart of Mary. She was still teaching at the time of her death in 1967 at the age of 89. Rose Hoben Welch was an educator for 66 years.
While Mrs. Welch’s 60+ years of teaching is mind blowing, the magnitude of her career is shaped by two stories…
Children of the Santa Fe Camp
Many Galesburg residents are aware of the stories of Mexicans coming to Galesburg to work on the railroads in the 1920’s. One of the camps where workers and families lived was the Sante Fe Camp. It was located in the area where today the Taco Hideout is located. From the 1920’s thru 1956, Mexican families lived in this area.
According to the school boundaries of the time, children of the Sante Fe Camp should have attended L.T.Stone on North St and Hawkinson St. It is unclear whether the children were denied attendance or just discouraged from attending because they could not speak English.
Rose Hoben Welch was the Principal of Mary Allen West School. As she became more aware of the needs of the children at the Sante Fe Camp, she reached out to have them attend her school.
Her involvement did not end there. She went to the camps to tutor the children, take food to families, and even items of clothing. She did this all out of her own pocket.
Understanding the importance of reading to developing English skills, she took Santa Fe Camp children to the Public Library to get library cards and showed them how to check out the books. Her impact on the children of the Sante Fe Camp was tremendous. She opened the door to education.
African-American Crossing Guards
In an interview with Pete Thierry in 2011, he shared the impact that Rose Hoben Welch had on young African-Americans, as well as the community as a whole.
As Mary Allen West’s Principal, for over 20 years Welch had taken 5th and 6th grade crossing guards to the Hotel Custer at the end of the year for a banquet. According to Tom Wilson, she paid for each child’s meal and also purchased a special gift for each child.
In the late 1940’s, the Hotel Custer did not serve Black Americans (children or adults) in their dining room. One year in the late ‘40’s, Mrs. Welch purposely chose a couple African-American children to be her crossing guards. According to Pete Thierry, she did not notify the Hotel Custer about the make-up of her “banquet group.”
When Welch arrived with two African-Americans, she and her group walked into the dining room and went to their tables. She was such a respected and powerful person in Galesburg, the management of the Custer on that day served the entire group in the dining room. Pete felt her decision was not an accident, she had thought this out and purposely used her position and her crossing guards to force the issue.
Rose Hoben Welch’s length of service and her commitment to stand up for minorities in Galesburg makes her one of the all-time greats in Galesburg history. Galesburg is a better place because of actions she took. If there is ever to be a Mt. Rushmore for Galesburg, I vote that we make sure one of the spots is Rose Hoben Welch.
District #205 chose in 1960 to recognize her by naming a school after her. The school is now gone, but District #205 should help keep her story and legacy alive by naming something else for Rose Hoben Welch.
If you are interested, click below to read Pete Thierry’s 2011 interview.
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