Schissler College of Business
Norristown, Pennsylvania
1888-1917 (?)
E-travel
I obtained the 1900-1901 school catalog through Ebay, providing information on the curriculum. Nancy Sullivan of the Historical Society of Montgomery County has an online history of the school with photographs. Schissler advertised widely, so numerous ads—including the one from Brandywine Archive (right)—are available.
History
In 1891 Aloysius J. Schissler moved his business school to Norristown.According to the catalog, the aim of the school was “to provide that thorough training of young men and women so necessary for a life work in the various lines of industry and business.” The catalog shows three courses of study.The commercial or bookkeeping course was for the training of accountants.But it included classes in arithmetic, spelling, commercial law, and business practices in various fields.The shorthand course of studies was for private secretaries, but included typing, correspondence, spelling, punctuation, grammar, letter writing, and penmanship.The combination course of studies included elements of both the other courses to prepare students for placement or advancement in jobs that required, for instance, a stenographer who also understood the company’s banking issues.
Schissler College of Business was one of the great success stories of the time. From six students in 1888, enrollment reached 608 in 1899. The 1900 graduation list reached 128.Enrollment success was attributed to four factors. First, the school boasted of a 90% placement rate for graduates. Lists of placements appeared regularly in the 191 newspapers in which the school advertised. Third, after the school incorporated in 1895, its board of directors and trustees included prominent community leaders from around the state, who referred students to Schissler. By 1900, Schissler claimed 6,000 alumni. An alumni association, formed in 1896, also helped guide students to Schissler.
Finally, early on Schissler adopted an Actual Business model of instruction, a model which dispensed with lectures and textbooks in favor of hands-on experiences with the operations of a business.
Except for its relationship with the Norristown YMCA, Schissler College provided no extracurricular activities for its students.
The 1916 Boyd’s City Directory for Norristown lists Schissler’s College of Business; that of 1918 does not.
Catalog image of a bookkeeping class
Bricks and Mortar
Schissler began teaching night classes in his home in the Manayunk neighborhood of Philadelphia. In 1891 he opened a branch in Norristown, using the second floor of the Albertson Trust Building at the corner of Main and Swede streets in the downtown area. As the enrollment increased, the school occupied both the second and third floors. In 1897 it moved two blocks down Main Street to the fourth floor of the Norristown Tile and Safe Deposit Building at 206-214 DeKalb Street. By 1899 Schissler was also taking the fifth floor, giving his school a capacity for 800 students. The Lykens (PA) Register noted that the addition provided space for an advanced shorthand class as well as enlarged and improved facilities for conducting actual business in banking, foreign exchange, wholesale and retail marketing, real estate, and transportation.
In March 1995 fourteen buildings on the corner of Main and Dekalb were damaged by fire and had to be razed. The old home of Schissler College of Business was perhaps one of these.
The Schissler sign is just barely visible on the fourth floor of the DeKalb Street building (right). Image from the catalog.
Sports
School Colors: A school pennant, advertised on Etsy, is Purple and Gold.
The Schissler school was very focused on preparing students for the job market, so it is not surprising that the first newspaper reference to a sports team did not come until 1903, the school’s twenty-first year. But the Dr. Roger B. Saylor website shows a football game in 1902, a 22-0 loss to the Perkioman School. Through 1916, Saylor shows 12 games played, with Schissler recording a 0-10-2 record. Four of the losses came to Phoenixville High School.
The College Football Data Warehouse shows an additional loss to the Pennsylvania Institute for the Deaf 25-6 in 1916.
Newspapers show that S.C.B. also fielded a baseball team in 1910, defeating Collegeville H.S. 19-0 and the Hill School of Pottstown 3-2. In 1910 a mile relay team from S.C.B finished third among Class 4 Preparatory schools at the Penn Relays.