page_title: Lausanne Collegiate School
section_title: Founding and Central Avenue Campus (1926-1953)
hierarchical_section_title: Lausanne Collegiate School / History of Lausanne / Founding and Central Avenue Campus (1926-1953)
caption_attribution_description: English: Lausanne co-founders sitting at a table.
context_page_description: Lausanne Collegiate School, is an independent, coeducational, nonsectarian school in Memphis, Tennessee, for pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. The school also has a sizable international population, with foreign nationals comprising 33% of the student body, representing 55 different countries.
context_section_description: In 1926, Emma DeSaussure Jett, Bessie Statler, and two other veteran teachers left St. Mary's Episcopal School and founded their own small private girls’ school at 1649 Central Avenue in Memphis.
   Originally named Lausanne School for Girls, the school was named after the Swiss city of Lausanne, a city that prided itself on elite education (see Education in Switzerland), and the area from which Mrs. Jett's DeSaussure ancestors had migrated to America.
  In the 1930s during the Great Depression, maintaining the private school was difficult. The women marshaled forward, lead by their vision of providing the best education possible. But even with the return of prosperity following World War II, Lausanne's viability remained tenuous. Luckily, the physical plant of recently dissolved Pentecost-Garrison School at Union Extended and Hollywood became available in 1952, and Lausanne secured a favorable lease on the property.
caption: Lausanne co-founders Emma DeSaussure Jett and Bessie Statler.
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