An enormous shout out and thank you to all the Davenport Adult Crossing Guards who have kept children safe on their way to school for the past 70 years.
The Davenport Democrat and Leader, September 16, 1951.g. 56
Before the Adult Crossing Guards were established, the busiest (and usually most dangerous) crosswalks to schools were protected by Davenport Police officers. Other school cross walks might have had school children as crossing guards. The problems with these early solutions were the police officers having to leave the cross walks to answer emergency police calls which left the children to cross unsupervised. The other issue was children were hard to see when helping other children to cross which lead to many near accidents.
By 1953, the idea of adult crossing guards had become strongly supported by the Parent Teacher Association of Davenport (PTA). The PTA formed the PTA Safety Council Committee which asked the Davenport City Council to meet with them. One of the biggest issues was the estimated start-up cost of $6,450 which would cover salary, insurance, and uniforms.
Guards were to be paid $1 per hour with a 3 hour maximum work day. On average $540 per year. There would be ten main guards placed at the busiest cross walks near schools with two substitute guards in rotation as needed. Guards would be females from 25 – 40 years old, a minimum of 5 foot 2 inches tall, and not to be over or under 15 percent of the normal weight for that person’s age and height.
Uniforms would include dark skirts, blue-gray shirts, dark blue necktie, white gloves, white officer’s cap, dark blue coat, and a white “Sam Brown” belt. The estimated cost to have these items made or purchased was $75 per guard. The decision was made in July 1954 that the fabrics used would be dark blue-gray material similar to police uniforms.
The cost of the guard program and which organization would oversee the guards was debated for months as the PTA and City Council each worried about long-term costs. By March 1954, the decision was made to place the guards under the City of Davenport and the Davenport Police Department’s Traffic Division. In April 1954, Mayor Walt Beuse selected seven citizens to form a study group to determine the most dangerous cross walks near public and private elementary schools in Davenport. Part of the formula to determine the danger was the number of cars passing through the intersection during crossing times and the number of children crossing.
On July 9, 1954, applications were put out in the police traffic office for those wishing to apply for the new crossing guard positions. All applications were due by July 26th. On July 27th, the citizens’ committee would begin to review the submissions for potential guards. If accepted, training would begin in August for the new school year.
The first crossing guards were announced in the newspapers on July 28, 1954 with their home address and the school they would be covering. Mrs. Clarence Moeller, Mrs. Paul Macumber, Mrs. Ann Lacey, Marion Frei, Mary Collins, Mrs. Roy McGinnis, Mrs. Albert Bowe, Mrs. Rose O’Toole, and Alice Kruse were all selected to be guards. Francis Schultz was named guard lieutenant to help oversee the schedules.
On August 25, 1954, the first day of training commenced at Madison School located at 116 East Locust Street under the supervision of the police department. This 20 hour training included not only cross walk instructions, but also first-aid training as well.
Miss Rose O’Toole became the first active crossing guard when she reported to work on the morning of August 30, 1954 at her station of Fillmore and West Locust Streets. She was there to help the children of Holy Family Catholic School cross safely to their first day of classes.
On Tuesday, September 7, 1954 the Davenport public schools started their first day with an estimated 7, 266 elementary school children spread across the district. The newly created Davenport Adult Crossing Guards were in position and ready to help.
One thing was missing though. The Davenport City Council still had to make the program an official ordinance. Without formal approval with an ordinance, the women could not be paid or covered by insurance. By September 1954, the Committee of the Whole was working on forming the ordinance and it was passed in City Council on October 8, 1954 as Ordinance Number 19,297.
While other cities in the United States had similar programs, the state of Iowa did not. With the creation of their crossing guard program, Davenport had the distinction of becoming the first adult crossing guard program in the state.
A change occurred in 1970 when retired men were allowed to join the crossing guards. By 2004, at least four crossing guards had been injured over the years after being struck by vehicles while assisting children at intersections. The students crossing had not been hurt. It was around this time that financial cutbacks began to occur for the City and school district. While the 25 crossing guards and intersections remained, other items were removed such as the official uniform that had been worn since 1954 (and 1970 for men).
The biggest change to the program occurred in 2020 when the City of Davenport and the Davenport School District agreed to hire an outside company, Cross Safe, to oversee the daily operations of the Adult Crossing Guards. As before, the City and the School District still share the cost of the crossing guards, but they are no longer under the Davenport Police Department Traffic Department.
While the the management of the crossing guards has changed, the dedication to local school children has not. For that we are appreciative. Thank you for 70 years of dedication to the children of Davenport!
(posted by Amy D.)
