The founder of the first English speaking, free kindergarten in the United States, Elizabeth Peabody (1804-1894) was born the eldest of seven in Billerica, Mass. She followed in the footsteps of her educator parents and also opened a bookstore on West St. in Boston where she hosted literary salons with frequent visitors like Margaret Fuller and Ralph Waldo Emerson. After assisting Bronson Alcott in his Temple school, Peabody founded her own kindergarten where children learned through active play.
