Soldan High School

A monumental Collegiate Gothic public high school designed by William B. Ittner, featuring a dramatic entrance tower and light-filled classrooms.

Soldan High School opened in 1908 as part of an ambitious expansion of St. Louis's public school system during the city's post-World's Fair boom years. The school was named in honor of Frank Louis Soldan, a revered German-born educator who had served as superintendent of St. Louis Public Schools from 1895 until his death in 1908. Under Soldan's leadership, the district had embraced progressive educational reforms, and the new high school bearing his name represented the city's commitment to providing quality secondary education as neighborhoods pushed westward into what had recently been the fairgrounds. William B. Ittner, who served as the Board of Education's official architect, designed Soldan as one of his signature schools that would influence educational architecture nationwide. The building served generations of St. Louis students throughout the twentieth century, educating a diverse population that reflected the changing demographics of the surrounding neighborhoods. Among its most celebrated alumni is playwright Tennessee Williams, who attended Soldan in the late 1920s before his family's circumstances led them to move. Williams would go on to become one of America's greatest dramatists, winning multiple Pulitzer Prizes for works including "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." Soldan High School continues to operate today as part of the St. Louis Public Schools system, serving students from across the city. The building remains an anchor institution in the Academy neighborhood, carrying forward more than a century of educational tradition on Union Boulevard.