Edward R. Johnstone

Edward R. Johnstone played a key role in the history of the Vineland Training School. As successor to Garrison, he lead the institute in a new, innovative direction, while still maintaining the school’s traditions. It was Johnstone’s leadership that brought the school to international prestige.

Johnstone was born in Galt, Ontario, Canada, on December 27, 1870. He moved to the United States in 1880, and settled in Cincinnati, Ohio. After graduating high school, he taught for three years, only then to become an undergraduate at the Fort Wayne, Indiana College of Medicine. He was then appointed principal of the Indiana School for Feeble-Minded.

At the age of 28, Professor Johnstone came to Vineland and served as the assistant superintendent of the Training School. Upon Garrison’s death in 1900, Johnstone assumed the late Reverend’s position as superintendent, a position which he continuously held until his own death in 1945.

During Johnstone’s 50 year term as head of the Training School, he led the school to worldwide prestige. It was Johnstone who founded the Research Laboratory, which went on to make numerous important breakthroughs in the study of feeble-mindedness. (For more information on the Training School’s accomplishments, see Fast Facts or History).

      But Johnstone’s achievements reach far beyond the Training School. After World War I, Johnstone traveled overseas as a member of the Citizen Division of the Army, a project organized by the US Government. Upon his return, Johnstone was one of 4 selected by the American Commission to Serbia to visit this devastated region and assist in the development of a program of reconstruction.  He spent 8 months in Serbia, where he earned the honorary title of lieutenant-colonel in the Serbian Army. Mr. Johnstone was also a member of numerous organizations, including the National Education Association, the Board of Managers of the New Jersey State Prison, Vineland Chamber of Commerce, Vineland Poultry Association, the Vineland Rotary Club. 

After years of service to the Training School and the Vineland community, Johnstone died at the age of 75. In 1955, the state of New Jersey honored him with the Edward R. Johnstone Training and Research Center in Bordentown. Two years later, the city of Vineland constructed Edward R. Johnstone Elementary School in his memory.

 

Related Links

·          Edward R. Johnstone Elementary School- The website for the elementary school named in Johnstone’s memory.