Stephen A. Caldwell

Who was Stephen A. Caldwell?

Stephen Adolphus Caldwell was an American educator originally from the village of Bienville in Bienville Parish in North Louisiana, best known for A Banking History of Louisiana, originally published in 1935.

Caldwell's parents were J. D. Caldwell and the former Cordelia Whitney. He did not receive his Bachelor of Arts degree, from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, until 1925, when he was thirty-six years of age. He procured a Master of Arts and Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1927 and 1934, respectively. In 1911, at the age of twenty-two and without a college degree, Caldwell became the principal of Ringgold High School in Ringgold, also in Bienville Parish. It appears that he had no classroom experience before becoming principal.

Caldwell was thereafter in the 1914-1915 school year the principal at Amite City High School in Tangipahoa Parish, one of the Louisiana Florida Parishes in southeastern portion of the state. Caldwell then served from 1915-1922 in Bastrop as school superintendent in Morehouse Parish north of Monroe in north Louisiana.