The Daycroft School was a co-educational private boarding school founded in 1928. Initially located at a private home in

Darien, Connecticut Darien ( ) is a coastal town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. With a population of 21,499 and a land area of just under 13 square miles, it is the smallest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast. It has the youngest population of any n ...

, it relocated to Stamford in 1935, and in 1963, to the neighboring town of

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich (, ) is a New England town, town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the town had a total population of 63,518. The largest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast (Conne ...

. Relocating again in Greenwich, it eventually occupied the Rosemary Hall campus from 1971 until Daycroft's closing in 1991. Smart founded the school for the children of local Christian Scientists.

School history

Daycroft was founded by Sarah Pyle Smart as a private school for the children of area Christian Scientists so they could be educated in an environment akin to their home life, where the teachings of

Christian Science Christian Science is a set of beliefs and practices associated with members of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Adherents are commonly known as Christian Scientists or students of Christian Science, and the church is sometimes informally know ...

were "an integral part" of life.''The Handbook Of Private Schools An Annual Descriptive Survey Of Independent Education''
Boston, Massachusetts: Porter Sargent, 39th Edition (1958), pp. 143-144. Retrieved July 8, 2013''Handbook'', p. 807.
Retrieved July 8, 2013 To that end, the faculty were all members of The Mother Church. Admission to the school was restricted to the children of parents who were students of

. The school had no official tie with the Christian Science Church. In later years, admission was extended to those had a close relative who was a member of The Mother Church or one of its branch churches. The school was a member of the Secondary Education Board and offered pre-school through high school, in general subjects and college preparatory education. The school offered partial scholarships and was incorporated in 1939 as a non-profit institution. The school's initial home was in Darien, Connecticut, where the Smarts lived. In 1935, a portion of an estate was purchased on Noroton Hill, near the Stamford Cove and became the new home for the school. The 46-acre Stamford campus was sold to

Clairol Clairol is the American personal care-product division of company Wella, specializing in hair coloring and hair care. Clairol was founded in 1931 by Americans Joan Gelb and her husband Lawrence M. Gelb, with business partner and lifelong friend ...

in 1963, when the school moved to the Rock Ridge area of

. In 1971, the school moved to the former Rosemary Hall campus, also in Rock Ridge.Susan Nova, "School's history lives in Greenwich". '' The Advocate'' (April 30, 1999), pp. R1 and R4 In 1998, the campus was placed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

because of its architectural significance. Its chapel was designed in the Middle English Gothic style by Theodore E. Blake of

Carrère & Hastings Carrère (; oc, Carrèra) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France. See also *Communes of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department The following is a list of the 546 communes of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques ...

. In 1972, the Daycroft school was one of the last sites of a

polio Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe s ...

outbreak in the United States. Due to their Christian Science belief, very few students at the school were immunized for polio. The outbreak prompted an emergency quarantine and mass immunization, which successfully prevented polio from spreading to the rest of the state. Ultimately, at least 11 school children (9 boys and 2 girls) were stricken by the paralytic form of the disease.

Notable alumni and staff

Richard Bergenheim Richard Bergenheim, CSB, (1948 – July 20, 2008) was the editor of ''The Christian Science Monitor'' and served The First Church of Christ, Scientist in numerous other capacities including on the church's Board of Directors and as President of The ...

Jacqueline Moss Jacqueline Moss (1927–2005) was an American art historian, lecturer, writer and art critic. She was the curator of education at the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art (since renamed) and lectured widely on modern art, modern and 20th-century ar ...

Zack Snyder Zachary Edward Snyder (born March 1, 1966) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and cinematographer. He made his feature film debut in 2004 with '' Dawn of the Dead'', a remake of the 1978 horror film of the same name. Since t ...

References

External links

Daycroft School Foundation
{{Christian Science, state=collapsed Schools in Fairfield County, Connecticut Greenwich, Connecticut Christian Science in Connecticut Former Christian Science churches, societies and buildings in the United States Educational institutions established in 1928 1928 establishments in Connecticut