M. Louise Thomas

Minnie Louise Thomas (née Russell; 1861–1947) was an American educator and the founder of Lenox Hall, a school for girls in St. Louis, Missouri.

[2] Russell attended the University of Missouri, where she was awarded a gold medal for excellence in oratory by the Press Association.

However, when she needed to support herself and two daughters, she became a teacher at Hardin College and Conservatory of Music in Mexico, Missouri, where she could keep her children with her.

There, she created a lecture series for girls, "Round Table Talks", which she continued at Lenox Hall.

One of her poems, sent as a New Year's greeting to the school's patrons, was adopted by the president of the Mothers' Congress of Texas and distributed to its members.