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This article traces the path of the American philanthropist Mary Cromwell and her participation in the promotion of the Montessori method in France from the beginning of the twentieth century, at pivotal moments that fostered the emergence of progressive educational reforms in the context of the First World War. Far from the image of the Montessori kindergartens for children from wealthy families that flourished between the two wars, the Montessori classes that she set up in war charities for the benefit of child refugees revealed a curative dimension of Montessori pedagogy. Based on this experience, Mary Cromwell then attempted to implement Montessori pedagogy in the kindergarten classes of the post-war public institutions.