History of Kate S. Schenck Elementary School
Kate S. Schenck Elementary School is located at 101 Kate Schenck Avenue in the southeast part of the City of San Antonio, Texas on 6.95 acres of land purchased from E.J. Burke & Sons on October 28, 1953. The contract for construction of the original building comprised of 29 classrooms was awarded to J.C. Worchester on October 27, 1954. The Executive Architectural Firm was Phelps, Dewees, & Simmons. The total cost of the building, including all fees, labor, and materials was $384,607.02. The final acceptance of the building was made on August 24, 1955, and the school opened that September. At the time, Schenck Elementary had the largest cafetorium constructed in any elementary school. Another unique feature of the time was the distinctive choice of colors. The original building was a coral-colored paint both inside and out with contrasts of blue on the exterior doors.
An annex was built in 1964 to house the campus library and 9 additional classrooms. The campus grew again with the passage of the 1997 Facilities Bond Expansion Program to include the addition of a new gym, special education classrooms, early childhood classrooms, a playground and a modern cafeteria and kitchen.
The school was named by action of the San Antonio Independent School District Board of Trustees on July 28, 1954, in memory and in honor of a devoted teacher and principal Mrs. Kate Semlinger Schenck.
Kate Semlinger, born January 9, 1870, to Mr. Henry Semlinger, graduate of the University of Heidelberg, Germany and Mrs. Batlin Semlinger of County Claire, Ireland, was one of a family of nine girls and five boys, only two of whom survived to adulthood. Mrs. Schenck spent her childhood in San Antonio, Texas, where she graduated from the German-English High School. As San Antonians of German origin became fully assimilated, the German-English School worked its way out of a job. The school closed in 1903, and the property was sold to the city. The buildings were repurposed as the George W. Brackenridge Grammar School until 1923, when it became Page Junior High School.
Mrs. Schenck studied at Harvard University during the summer of 1903 and at the University of Chicago during the summers of 1906, 1909, and 1916. Incarnate Word College of San Antonio, Texas (now known as the University of the Incarnate Word) awarded her a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1926 and a Master of Arts Degree in 1928.
Mrs. Schenck began her career as a teacher of elementary students in Devine, Texas. In 1897, she married Adolph Von Schenck who died approximately 3 years later. Upon her husband’s death, Mrs. Schenck returned to the teaching profession and served the students of the San Antonio Independent School District for the next 36 years. Her first assignment was as a fourth-grade teacher and then as the principal of Herff Elementary School from 1904 – 1906. She was then assigned to Fannin Elementary School from 1906 – 1916, Robert E. Lee Elementary School from 1916 – 1923, and then to Emerson Junior School in 1923 where she remained until her retirement in 1941.
Mrs. Schenck was an avid traveler and toured throughout Europe over thirteen summers where she once won the Women’s Medal for climbing the Alps Mountains. She also spent thirteen summers traveling throughout Mexico and was one of the first people to take a flight into Chichen Itza Mayan ruins on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. Throughout her life, Mrs. Schenck was intensely interested in the cultural arts and gave the students she served many opportunities to increase their knowledge and appreciation of the arts.
Mrs. Schenck died on September 12, 1952, leaving behind a great legacy still felt today.