After graduating, Kemper remained at Marion for three years as an instructor. In 1843 he opened a private boarding school with his uncle in Philadelphia, Missouri.[citation needed] Residents of Boonville then induced Kemper to open a school there in the spring of 1844.[1] In June 1844, he opened up "Boonville Male Boarding School". He operated the school by himself as a local school for boys, and regularly changed the school's name. From 1845 through 1856 it was referred to variously as the "New Boonville Academy", the "Boonville Boarding School and Teachers Seminary", "Male Collegiate Institute", and "Kemper Family School". In 1856, the school was temporarily closed when Kemper accepted a teaching and administrative position at the newly established Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. However, in 1861 he returned to Boonville and reopened the school in partnership with his wife's brother, Edwin H. Taylor. The school was then called the "Kemper and Taylor Institute." Kemper kept a guarded neutrality and the schools was one of few in the state to remain open during the Civil War. After the war, Kemper and his wife Susan regained sole management of Kemper Family School until his death in 1881.[2] In 1885, Kemper's successor, Thomas A. Johnston, added a formal military training program, and in 1899, the name of the school officially changed to Kemper Military School. The school continued to operate until 2002, when it shut its doors.[1][3]
Personal life
Kemper was an elder at the Presbyterian Church.[4]
Kemper died of pneumonia on March 9, 1881, at his home in Boonville. He was buried in Walnut Grove Cemetery.[5][6]
References
^ abLang, Edward (July 29, 2016). "End of an Era". Boonville Daily News. Archived from the original on May 8, 2021. Retrieved August 15, 2017.