Weld County, History of Colorado, BIOS: CRABBE, John Grant (published 1918) *********************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. *********************************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Maggie Stewart-Zimmerman http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00015.html#0003643 October 27, 1999 *********************************************************************** "History of Colorado", edited by Wilbur Fisk Stone, published by The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. (1918) Vol. II p. 340,342 photo p. 341 JOHN GRANT CRABBE. John Grant Crabbe, one of the foremost authorities in education in the United States, has served since September 1, 1916, as president of Colorado State Teachers' College at Greeley. His vast experience well qualifies him for the headship of this institution, where under his direction the teachers of the state are prepared and educational progress is molded. Before entering upon his present position Dr. Crabbe was the seventeenth superintendent of public instruction of Kentucky and the president of Eastern Kentucky State Normal School. He was born in Mount Sterling, Madison county, Ohio, November 29, 1865, and is a son of Thomas W. and Julia Catherine (Baughman) Crabbe. Dr. Crabbe received his early education in the schools of Mount Sterling, graduating from the high school of that city. Later he graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Three years later he received the degree of Master of Arts from the same institution. In 1897 he received the degree of Master of Pedagogy from Ohio University; in 1909 Berea College, Kentucky, conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws; again, in 1909, he received the degree of Doctor of Pedagogy from Miami University; and in 1911 the State University of Kentucky conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws. President Crabbe has been all his life an exceedingly busy man. At the commencement of his career as an educator he taught for two years in rural schools and then served as head of the department of Greek and Latin in Flint (Mich.) Normal College. He was elected superintendent of the city schools of Ashland, Kentucky, in 1890, and ably and satisfactorily performed the duties of that office for eighteen years. In 1895 he was chairman of the Kentucky Committee of Ten and wrote the able report of that committee. In 1900 he took a well earned season of rest and recreation, which he passed in travel in Europe, and in January, 1908, he assumed the duties of state superintendent of public instruction for Kentucky, to which position he was elected in the fall of 1907. He resigned the office of state superintendent April 9, 1910, and on the same date became president of Eastern Kentucky State Normal School at Richmond, Kentucky, which position he occupied until August 31, 1916. On September 1, 1916, he entered upon his duties as president of Colorado State Teachers' College, and has since given all of his energy, experience, ability and acquired knowledge toward furthering the purposes of this institution. Dr. Crabbe has held many other positions of honor and trust. He has been president of the Kentucky Educational Association, chairman of the Kentucky Educational Commission to revise the school laws of the state, president of the Department of Normal Schools of the Southern Educational Association, associate editor of the Inland Educator, state director of the National Education Association, a member of the National Council of Education of the National Education Association, president of the Department of Normal Schools of the National Education Association, chairman of the Department of State and County Superintendents, National Education Association, and president of the Kentucky Schoolmasters' Club. He is a Phi Beta Kappa. Since 1916 he has been a member of the Colorado Schoolmasters' Club, taking an active and leading part in its proceedings. In every position and walk in life Dr. Crabbe has made good. He has been prominent for years in religious, fraternal and musical circles. In religion Dr. Crabbe is a Methodist. He is especially prominent as a Sunday school superintendent. While at Ashland he built up one of the greatest Sunday schools in this country. He is prominent in Masonry, being a Knight Templar, Shriner and A. & A. S. R. thirty-second degree Mason. Music is one of his great hobbies, if hobby it may be termed. He is a composer of music, and while state superintendent he composed and set to music the song "Kentucky Schools," which has thrilled thousands of Kentucky children. Dr. Crabbe's work while superintendent is part of the history of Kentucky. Probably the most noted events of his busy administration were the inauguration of the "whirlwind campaigns" and the enactment of the county school law. By the first, he aroused the state from center to circumference along the lines of educational needs; the second abolished an outgrown three-trustee system and started a growth in the schools of Kentucky unparalleled in the history of education. Dr. Crabbe is now devoting his undivided energies to the upbuilding of educational forces in Colorado, and as president of Colorado State Teachers' College has taken well in hand the training of instructors of the state. Although he has been here only two years, he has already laid the foundations of a success as great as that which he accomplished in Kentucky. In tact, it is surmised that he will play an even more important role in this young state, where he finds entirely new conditions and where he can apply the latest principles without having to contend with established prejudices. Colorado is indeed to be congratulated upon having secured an educator of his caliber, and the furtherance of the mental, moral and intellectual progress of this commonwealth rests with him in sate hands. Dr. Crabbe married Miss Jennie Florence Graft, B. L., Ohio Wesleyan University. Mrs. Crabbe is given great credit for a generous share in labors that have written progress into Kentucky's and Colorado's systems of education.