Ethel Maud Baston was born on August 24, 1886, in what would soon become St. Louis Park. Her mother felt that she was the first baby born after St. Louis Park became a Village, but that didn’t happen until November.
Ethel was one of seven graduates of St. Louis Park’s Lincoln High School in 1905. She became a schoolteacher, and she taught for 43 years, starting right after she graduated from high school. Her first 3-4 years were outside of the Park. In 1910 she became a teacher, then principal at Brookside School. She served as elementary education supervisor from 1928 to 1931 and then from 1938 to her death in 1954. She got her college diploma from the U of M in 1926 by attending night school, summer school, and correspondence courses. She earned a Masters, also at the U of M, in 1937.
Ethel suffered a cerebral hemorrhage on December 18, 1953 and was confined at Vocational Hospital in serious condition. She died at age 69 on July 28, 1954.
Ethel Baston Elementary School was dedicated on October 9, 1955. Never married, Ethel lived with her mother until she died. Apparently she had a boyfriend, Chester Radford, who lived with the Bastons and worked at her brother Bert Baston’s garage.
See also: Baston Family