About

The Proud History of Stewart Home & School

Founded in 1893

Stewart Home & School occupies the historic campus of the old Kentucky Military Institute and its adjoining 850 acres of serene rural farmland in Frankfort, Kentucky. Thru the statuesque entrance gate is the beautiful reflective landmark setting that binds past to present. Now on the National Register of Historic Places, the school offers a one-of-a-kind community, where those who are neuro divergent are truly appreciated and respected.

The founder of the Stewart Home & School, Dr. John Quincy Adams Stewart was an historic figure and the champion of a minority group of those with intellectual and developmental disabilities, IDD. He was a unique man.

A native Kentuckian he earned his law degree at age 18 from the University of Louisville; he went west to the California Gold Rush of 1849, served there as a magistrate and judge, returned to the University of Louisville for his medical degree in 1859, then practiced medicine in Western Kentucky. In 1876, Governor James McCreary appointed him to come to the capital in Frankfort and serve as the Director of the Kentucky State Institute for the Intellectually Disabled. He did this under four governors becoming a nationally known expert in the field of disability care with progressive programming, publications and lectures regarding education, training and vocational integration within the community. In 1881 he hosted a national convention for the American Association for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities; in 1884 he was that organization’s president. In 1895, he was Kentucky Medical Association president and his inaugural address was training for the disabled. In 1893, he left public service, and along with his son, a newly graduated physician, he acquired the campus of Kentucky Military Institute, a cadet prep school that had moved to Louisville, and started a private special needs boarding school.

Upon the death of John QA Stewart in 1898, his son Dr. John Poage Stewart became the chairman, managing the school’s affairs for 43 years until 1941. He expanded operations, guided it through the Spanish Influenza Epidemic of 1918–19, and impressively through the Great Depression. From 1941–1963, John Dowling Stewart, a business administrator, served as chairman, navigating the Second World War.

From 1963 until 2014, for 51 years, Dr. John Poage Stewart II was the chairman. Along with his son-in-law, Barry Banker, he expanded facilities, doubled the census, and consolidated ownership from the Redmon side of the family. With Director Sandy Bell and Superintendent David Sellwood, they developed a nationally recognized special education faculty and school programming. Among many civic achievements, Dr. JP Stewart served as KMA president in 1977 and was chairman of the task force that built the Frankfort Hospital.

In 2014 the fifth generation assumed management of SHS with Dr. John Dowling Stewart II , a career surgeon who grew up on the school campus, serving as chairman, his brother-in-law, Barry Banker, as chief manager, his siblings Jean Ann, Cathy and Charles as partners and board members. In 2020 John and Charles became co-partners and assumed direction of the school. Expansion of Student Health, management through the Covid Pandemic, renovations, continued modernization, program innovation and next-generation administration are the focus going forward with the SH&S now operating in its third century.