For the Child and the Child’s Child: The Culture of Giving

By John Rovell, Archivist

at Kinkaid from 1924 to the Present

In my work as school archivist, I often stumble on items in the collections that stick with me. One of these is an image taken by John Wrangle ’94 as a part of a project for his photography class, taught by retired photography teacher David Veselka.

Upper School photography students were asked to capture “A Day in the Life of Kinkaid” by taking photographs on a single day in February 1992. In Wrangle’s photo, a young Kinkaid student is looking through a chain link fence at a construction site, where the current Middle School building would one day stand.

Though one cannot see the boy’s expression, based on the way he grabs the fence and stares at the moved earth and construction materials, one can gather a sense of anticipation and excitement for what will come.

Every time I look at this image, I think of the generations of Kinkaidians who have perhaps done the very same thing as facilities get torn down and rebuilt in time with the shifting needs of Kinkaid’s growing and changing student body. Today, the footprint of The Kinkaid School is worlds away from its founder Mrs. Margaret Kinkaid’s dining room table in 1904.

Each of the steps in this generations-long process have been made possible through the generosity and commitment of individuals and families who were long-range thinkers and visionaries. They saw what The Kinkaid School could be and contributed their time, talents, and treasures as part of our major fundraising efforts, often called capital campaigns, even if their own Kinkaidians would graduate long before their visions came to fruition.

As we start the next chapter in Kinkaid’s history, it is important to take a look back at the strong vision and generosity that have brought us to where we are today.

Early Fundraising

Fundraising and philanthropy have been a key part of Kinkaid’s expansion and development as a school since its earliest days. When Mrs. Kinkaid realized that she had maximized every inch of usable space at the original campus on San Jacinto and Elgin, she consulted with parents, and it was agreed that a new campus would be necessary for the further growth and development of Kinkaid and its programs.

In 1924, The Board of Trustees was convened to handle the business aspect of raising the capital to build the new school. Trustee

R.L. Blaffer headed the fundraising campaign. Donors were asked to purchase a subscription building bond worth anywhere between $100 and $10,000. According to “Kinkaid and Houston: 75 Years” these bonds ended up totaling $85,000.

It was not only the trustees who were involved in this effort, the first mothers’ committee of the School was hugely effective in driving giving, and were said to have “raised at least as much if not more than the men did.” The campaign was so successful that construction of the beautiful Spanish Renaissance style building designed by William Ward Watkins began that same summer.

As the School grew to include the Upper School in the 1930s and expanded its athletics offerings, fundraising and individual philanthropy led to the building of the Upper School on the site as well as the “Little Gym,” which was partially funded through money raised at Field Day, especially at an alumni basketball game hosted at that time. As the athletics program grew further, an additional gym was also funded through a very short fundraising campaign from March to May in 1949.

By the early 1950s, nearly 30 years after the move from San Jacinto to Richmond, the five acres of the Richmond Campus had also been maximized to its greatest potential in terms of space. With the growth of the student population, the arts program, and interscholastic athletic competition at Kinkaid, the facilities were becoming increasingly insufficient. So, Head of School John Cooper and the Board announced the intention to raise funds to move the school to a new location.

Dreaming of a site that could accommodate a football field, gyms, and a theater, they purchased 27 acres from the Rice Institute in Afton Oaks, a growing yet somewhat sleepy neighborhood at that time. They announced this with a brochure entitled “Challenge and Response at Kinkaid” where the Planning and Development

Committee outlined the various challenges caused by the lack of space as well as the opportunities presented by them:

“For the first time in Houston - and possibly anywhere - a great modern preparatory school can see the entire picture of its needs. Here is a very rare opportunity: to build and equip the ideal independent school. Hindered by no imperfect legacies of the past and limited by no poverty of resources, we can here and now prove ourselves worthy of an almost unique challenge. We propose to meet this challenge by creating a beautiful and functional school which will be an enduring satisfaction to those it serves and a model of the finest school design for generations to come.” - Challenge and Response at Kinkaid

When the Texas Department of Transportation informed the Board that acreage off the front of the Afton Oaks plot would be claimed for the future Southwest Freeway, Kinkaid purchased land from the Crosswell family in Piney Point Village, and School leadership began envisioning what they wanted to see on the new 40-acre site. A pamphlet, “Building for the Future,” articulated the design of the original plot of the Memorial Campus with layouts that both current students and alumni would recognize. This pamphlet and a follow-up brochure seem strikingly similar to later communications connected to capital campaigns in their language of vision and their promise of future opportunity.

After the completion of the final buildings on the Memorial Campus in the summer of 1958, the School began to turn its focus to enhancing the programs offered at Kinkaid, founding the first Endowment Fund in 1962. The Endowment was established to not only help fund the employment of exceptional teachers and provide unique educational experiences to Kinkaid students, it also funded financial assistance to students from outside of Kinkaid’s network of families to attend Kinkaid. This brought socio-economic, ethnic, and religious diversity to Kinkaid at levels not previously seen. Funding this endowment as well as other endowments for curriculum development and student assistance became a key part of the fundraising capital campaigns that were to come.

The Century 21 Campaign

The 1970s were a time of innovation at Kinkaid. Open classrooms in the Lower School and the completion of the Moran Library in 1971 with its focus on independent learning were just two of the spaces that were impacted by this wave of new thought in curriculum and learning. By 1974, the Administration and the Board were ready to continue to take this to the next step. They decided funding for programs and additional facilities were needed to get Kinkaidians ready for the new century that was fast approaching. To match this innovation, a new and more focused form of fundraising was chosen by the Board, John Cooper, and Bill McKinley, the director of finance at the time. They enlisted fundraising company Ketchum, Inc. to conduct a feasibility study in 1973, and then in 1974, they launched Century 21. To quote John Cooper:

“2000 AD will mark the completing of formal education for many youngsters soon to Kinkaid ...And the beginning of major decision-making for those now graduating. [It] will ask new questions which can be answered only by education. No other institution has the opportunity -- every day, day after day -- to prepare the growing person.”

Century 21 became our first modern capital campaign, and it set a lofty goal for its time of $3,000,000. It was headed by trustee Max R. Lents and was subdivided into five divisions headed by other members of the board. A campaign headquarters was located in rented office space in the (now demolished) Southwest Tower downtown. The campaign chairs introduced several components that would be recognizable to the Kinkaid community today, such as branded mailers and brochures. Most interesting is an audio piece communicating the value of The Kinkaid School’s education to outside donors, as it captures a fascinating snapshot of Kinkaid in 1974. In this, the voices of Head of School John Cooper, Upper School Head Barry Moss, Theatre Arts Director G’Ann Boyd among many others including students, discuss what they like about Kinkaid and what made Kinkaid’s mission important.

Century 21 was completed in March 1975, having raised $3,500,000; $500,000 more than expected. To celebrate, a banquet was held at the Ramada Club where John Cooper thanked the leadership of the campaign and received the door plaque that had been at its downtown headquarters.

The 1990s and the Middle School

Thanks to the success of Century 21, the School got to work building the Blaffer Arts Center, Sterling Science Center, and the Anderson Home Arts Center (now the Anderson Room). These additions were able to assist in the growth of the Middle School and Upper School programs at Kinkaid, if not fully solving some of the School’s issues with space. Many individuals newer to Kinkaid may not know that the building that now houses the Upper School used to be shared between the Middle School and the Upper School. By 1990, it had become unsuitable for housing both. In addition, the Athletics program was now bigger than it had ever been with 80% of the female students and 90% of the male students participating in a sport. The Fondren Gym and “The Little Gym” (now known as the Doggett Gym) had become rapidly inadequate.

So, in 1990, for the first time in 15 years, the School undertook a new capital campaign, dubbed Making a Difference. This campaign had a $12,000,000 goal, including $6,000,000 for new facilities (a separate Middle School Building and a new Gymnasium and athletics complex) and $6,000,000 for an endowment, which would cover the operational expenses of the new buildings as well as student financial aid and professional development for the faculty.

Legendary Director of Development

Phyllis Selber and Campaign

Chair Randall Meyer helped to guide the campaign to an incredibly successful result. Making a Difference was finished in under 20 months and ahead of its initial asking goal. Construction for the new Middle School began the following year and the Middle School students moved into the new school in December 1992. The new gym and athletics complex was completed in 1994 through the generosity of the Melcher family, the Friedkin family, the Fontaine Family, and the Houstoun Family among others, and a series of celebrations were held over a week in November of that year to inaugurate the new space.

The 2000s: Changes to the Lower School, Fine Arts, and Athletics

Seven years after the successful completion of Making a Difference, the Board of Trustees adopted a long-range plan that was the result of a study of the School’s immediate needs. The expansion of the Upper School and Middle School brought much needed relief to the overcrowding that was happening as a result of the growth of the School, but leadership knew that further steps would need to be taken to continue Kinkaid’s legacy of excellence into the future. So, in 1995, they began to turn their attention to envisioning the next phase of Kinkaid’s story by initiating a long-range planning process that culminated in the publishing of Kinkaid’s “Long Range Plan: Building for the Future,” which was adopted in April 1999.

This plan underlined some of the growth that the School had experienced and the shortfalls of the facilities and programs of the time. After 40 years, the Lower School was facing some serious issues with its buildings, Theater Arts had fully outgrown the Blaffer Center, and the arts in general needed more space. In addition to all of this, a desire for developing Character Education was identified as a priority.

To answer all these challenges and increase endowments for staffing, curriculum, and need-based financial aid, the Board and Administration launched the Building for the Next Century campaign. Board Member David Weekley was chosen as the chair and the campaign got to work raising funds. In September of 1999, a construction wall was built around the site of the new Lower School, which featured artwork from students from all three academic divisions under the direction of Middle and Upper School art teacher

Nancy McMillan, and Lower School art teacher Sharon Anderson

Throughout the campaign, four volumes of a newsletter called “The Inside Scoop” were published with updates about the campaign’s progress and the construction of each of the facilities.

By the end of the campaign in 2004, the School had raised over $46 million, which helped to build not only a new Lower School and Theater complex, but also the Quadrangle and Student Life Building. In addition to the physical assets of Kinkaid, $7.3 million of the amount raised went to new endowment funds. During Building for the Next Century, Phyllis Selber retired and Kinkaid hired Director of Advancement Tom Moore who has been instrumental in the success of Kinkaid’s fundraising up to the current day.

At this time, the Athletics program, much like Academics and the Arts, was again experiencing enormous growth and due to this, the outdoor athletic fields were in need of major upgrades. To bring the outdoor athletics areas into the 21st century, the Board and Administration launched a $4,400,000 initiative in 2008 called Fields and Dreams that would provide turf upgrades to the fields among other outdoor athletics improvements (the “Fields” part of the title) and a needs-based financial aid endowment (the “Dreams”). The main focus of the fields part of the initiative was the re-turfing of the athletics fields, new scoreboards, refurbishing of the Foster Parker track, and the creation of a new softball field. The Fields initiative, which concluded in 2009, generated over $5 million for these improvements, and the Dreams initiative finished in 2010 with $7,677,000 raised.

The 2010s and Campus Expansion

The 2010s began with exciting news. In summer 2009, longtime Kinkaid neighbor Mrs. Marjorie Milby indicated to Kinkaid that she was interested in selling her land that adjoined the Kinkaid campus. The acquisition of this land would bring the total acreage of Kinkaid from 40 acres to the 66 we have today. The school jumped at the opportunity, as leadership knew that this could assist Kinkaid in attaining much-needed space for a new entrance and parking lot. Beyond this, it would also allow for the visioning of other new buildings, including an Upper School one day. Land committee chair Chip Cureton and past Board Chair John Beckworth led the negotiations. In the end, the property was bought by Kinkaid for $20 million using a bridge loan, and Mrs. Milby was allowed to continue to live on the property for as long as she liked, which meant that there would be some time before Kinkaid could use the land. This delay was something that Head of School Don North discussed in his open letter published in the Fall 2010 special edition of “Kinkaid Magazine.” He saw this time as a positive thing, writing: “It will likely be several years before Kinkaid is fully able to develop the land.

But that will work to the School’s advantage. It will allow us to…think deliberately about the property’s best and highest uses.”

That fall, the Tomorrow’s Promise capital campaign was commissioned. Headed by Tad Mayfield ’81, its purpose was to pay the cost of the loan plus some immediate improvements to the land that were desperately needed. The campaign would also assist in the funding of a new Master Plan that would guide the next phase of development of the School. In October 2011, the campaign kicked off with a Sneak Peek event for the community so that they could see the newly acquired land. It was advertised with invitations resembling movie tickets and posters that featured clever twists on movie titles such as “Westward Go” and “A Bayou Runs Through It.”

After the completion of Tomorrow’s Promise, two major transitions happened in the life of Kinkaid. In 2013, Don North retired after 17 years as Kinkaid’s Head of School. A little more than a year later, in November 2014, Mrs. Milby passed away. At the intersection of these two events, the visioning that had taken place in the years after the purchase of the property began to lead to new changes. With the new land secured, the trustees and administration tackled some issues that had been plaguing Kinkaid for years, namely the cafeteria and the lack of parking. The Kinkaid Cafeteria was original to the 1957 plot and was no longer able to accommodate students and faculty during one lunch period. The parking situation had been dire for quite some time with Upper School students having to park off campus and get shuttled in at the beginning of each school day.

The Building Together capital campaign was called to help with both problems. The total working goal for the campaign was $25 million and with the generosity of many members of the community, the School was able to build the current two-story Dining and Learning Center with increased classroom space for the Middle School on its second floor as well as the multi-level parking garage that has allowed students to park on campus and provides ample parking for visitors.

Upon the completion of Building Together, a smaller $10,850,000 campaign titled Go West helped the School expand westward with the construction of the redesigned campus entrance that had been envisioned in 2010 as well as a new tennis complex, Kel’s Hill, a practice baseball field, an all-purpose practice field, and a large retention pond that has helped Kinkaid to prevent flooding from major storms. By the end of the campaign in 2018, Kinkaid as it is known today was fully realized.

All In

In a pamphlet from the Century 21 campaign in 1974, an unattributed quote stands out: “The wise man is one who sacrifices the moment for the future of the child and the child’s child.” The proof of this guiding

Harrison House

On Monday, October 10, 2022, the Harrison House was torn down after over 60 years serving as a home to two heads of school and then later as the Advancement offices. Below are images of the house and events held there throughout the years: maxim from over 50 years ago is evident the moment one drives on campus today.

Today’s Kinkaidians benefit from the sweeping green space, the improved parking, a separate and expanded Middle School and Lower School, and a Fine Arts building among many other features that were funded by their forbearers. This chain of concern for the future goes back to the days of Mrs. Kinkaid and the first Board of Trustees.

As Kinkaid turns to its current exciting campaign, ALL IN, students of today are much like the boy in John Wrangle’s photo. They can look at the space where the Harrison House used to be and imagine what is to come.

Many may graduate by the time these buildings are fully constructed and realized, but they and the rest of the Kinkaid community are being called to go all in and be the next link in that chain of concern and sacrifice that will provide for the Kinkaidians of tomorrow.

Campaign Chairs

Century 21: Max R Lents

Making a Difference: Randall Meyer

Building for the Next Century: David Weekley

Fields and Dreams: Ray Childress, Curtis Harrell, and Andrew Segal (Fields)/Ed Frank ’68 and Michael Kuhn ’68 (Dreams)

Tomorrow’s Promise: Tad Mayfield ’81

Building Together: Pam Fullenwider and Bill Montgomery

Go West: Greg Looser and Evan Katz

All In: Leslie Doggett ’75, Evan Katz, and Charles Lawrence ’96

LISTEN TO THE VOICES OF THE PAST!

Scan this QR Code to listen to the audio recording from the Century 21 campaign. Take a trip to 1974 and hear John Cooper, Barry Moss, Art Goddard, G’Ann Boyd, Pat Foley, and others talk about what makes Kinkaid special.

For more history, please visit: kinkaid.org/who-we-are/campus-history