[2][1] The idea of the school came about in the summer of 1899 during a meeting of the National Dental Association in Niagara Falls.
In that meeting in Niagara Falls, Henry E. Lindas, Thomas B. Mercer, Herbert A. Pullen and Milton A. Watson approached Angle and asked him to teach them orthodontics in St. Louis for three weeks.
This became the nation's first school of orthodontics and was located at 1107 N. Grand Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri.
The students of the school studied histology, anatomy, biology, physiology and their relation to orthodontics.
During teaching, Angle's health faded and he decided to move away from the East Coast and left for Pasadena, California.