Lyle Brower, professor of the art department of the Kansas State Manual Training Normal School, at Pittsburg, Kan., was born at Ottawa, Ill., in 1871, a son of Ireneus and Margaret (Sprague) Brower. His parents were born in the State of New York, but met and married in Illinois. The father was a direct descendant of the family of Noah Webster. He was a farmer and followed that vocation all his life. Lyle Brower's elementary education was acquired in the public schools. He then entered the Ottawa High School, where he graduated in 1893. He was ambitious and desired a more advanced course, and entered the departments of architecture and art and design at the University of Illinois, in the fall of 1893. His education was acquired by his own unaided efforts, as he worked on a farm with a threshing outfit in Southern Nebraska, as a street car conductor and motorman, and as a guard at the Columbian Exposition at Chicago, in 1893, in order to get the money with which to pay his college expenses. He spent four years at college and graduated with the class of 1898, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Science, in the fall of that year he began to teach in the manual training department of the Rockford, Ill. public schools, where he remained five years and became the supervisor of drawing and manual training. He also was director of the Vacation School under the auspices of the Rockford Teachers' Study Club and taught evening drawing classes in the Y. M. C. A. In 1903 he became director of manual training in the schools at Elgin, Ill. The following year he was offered and accepted the position of principal of the Manual Training School at Springfield, Ill. He also taught calisthenics in the Springfield home for the friendless. In 1904 he became the head of the art department of the Kansas State Manual Training Normal, at Pittsburg, where he has since taught in the various departments, including manual arts, and calisthenics, but devoting most of his time to art, his ability in that line being especially marked. In 1899 Mr. Brower married Zalia Eustis, of the old New England family of that name, and one child has been born to them—Esther. Mr. and Mrs. Brower are members of the Presbyterian church, in which Mr. Brower is superintendent of the Sunday school. Mr. Brower is a member of the Masonic fraternity. He designed the seal of the Pittsburg Normal, the Normal pin, and laid out the grounds of the school and the beautiful drives. He is heart and soul in the work of the school, where he began teaching one year after it was opened, and his efforts have been so satisfactory to all concerned that his services will be retained as long as he cares to remain, he believes strongly in manual training and in the bright future of the school. Although he has had many offers from other places he has refused to accept them. He has traveled extensively throughout Kansas, lecturing on art and industrial education. Mr. Brower belongs to the Eastern Manual Training Association, the Illinois Manual Training Association, the Kansas State Teachers' Association, and the Southeastern Kansas Teachers' Association. He is a member and was the organizer of the Kansas Manual Art Association, which has met yearly since its organization at Topeka, in 1906. He was the first secretary of the association and acted in that capacity two years. In 1908 he was elected vice-president and in 1910 its president. In 1892 he won the competitive scholarship in the Teachers' College, Columbia University, New York City. There were over fifty competitors and only three scholarships offered. In addition to his regular studies Mr. Brower has been a special student of color design under Nathaniel Berry and Forrest Frederick. He is regarded as one of the leading educators and art designers west of the Missouri river. He is at the present writing doing graduate work at the University of Kansas, in the School of Education, for advanced degrees.