Abram Winegardner Harris: A Forgotten Educator

Biographical Bytes from Bala #033 

Abram Winegardner Harris was one of the top educators in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  After he was schooled in Philadelphia and spent time with the Department of Agriculture, he served as president of the land grant school in Orono when it became the University of Maine. While there he helped establish the first general studies academic fraternity Phi Kappa Phi. 

Then he spent a few years at a private secondary boarding school in Maryland where he established the Cum Laude Society for secondary school scholars. 

Next stop: Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where he was responsible for a massive expansion of the entire campus – gymnasium, stadium, science center, and much more.  A tradition he began in 1916 continues more than a century later. 

Harris is interred under a simple, tasteful stone next to the road in the River section of Laurel Hill West.  It identifies him simply as “SCHOLAR / TEACHER / LEADER / FRIEND".