Dr. Holbrook's Military School was a

military academy A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps. It normally provides education in a military environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned. ...

and

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

for boys. The school was located in the town of Ossining and overlooked the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

. After the 1906 annexation of Scarborough by the village of

Briarcliff Manor Briarcliff Manor () is a suburban village in Westchester County, New York, north of New York City. It is on of land on the east bank of the Hudson River, geographically shared by the towns of Mount Pleasant and Ossining. Briarcliff Manor inc ...

, Holbrook's became part of the village within Ossining. The school was founded in 1864 as Mr. Tracy's School. In 1866, after David A. Holbrook purchased the school, it became known as Dr. Holbrook's Military School. The school ran until 1915, after which it was used in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

as a field hospital and headquarters to a

New York Guard The New York Guard (NYG) is the state defense force of New York State, also called The New York State Military Reserve. Originally called the New York State Militia it can trace its lineage back to the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Th ...

regiment. From 1919 until at least 1927, the school served as the Teachers College Country Club.

History

Saint Denis Institute was said to have occupied the land prior to the school. It was founded in 1864 as Mr. Tracy's School, a seminary for young women on a estate. In 1866, Reverend David A. Holbrook, PhD, purchased the school, turned it into a boys' school, and enlarged it to . It had 60 students. After Holbrook's death in December 1898, Dr. Holbrook's sons Dudley and Henry became involved with running the school. They were joined in 1899 by their brother Dwight, and ran the school until its closure as Holbrook's Preparatory School for Boys. When it closed in 1915 the school had 80 students. Shortly after the school's closure, in 1917, events in

led the

's First Provisional Regiment (1,500 men operating under Colonel John B. Rose) to guard the

Croton Aqueduct The Croton Aqueduct or Old Croton Aqueduct was a large and complex water distribution system constructed for New York City between 1837 and 1842. The great aqueducts, which were among the first in the United States, carried water by gravity from ...

. Captain Charles W. Baldwin,

Chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

of the regiment and Rector of

Saint Mary's Episcopal Church The Scarborough Historic District is a national historic district located in the suburban community of Scarborough-on-Hudson, in Briarcliff Manor, New York. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984, and conta ...

in Scarborough and also in present-day Briarcliff Manor, arranged a deal with

V. Everit Macy Valentine Everit Macy (March 23, 1871 – March 21, 1930) was an American industrialist and philanthropist, involved in local government. In the 1910s and 1920s, he served in Westchester County, New York, as commissioner of the Department of Chari ...

, then the owner of the school estate, for free use of the campus and buildings until three months after the war's end. The regiment, originally headquartered at Pines Bridge Inn on Croton Lake, moved its headquarters to the Holbrook Military Academy, and the academic building at the school became Field Hospital No. 2 of the Atlantic Division of the

American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...

. The ground floor of the west wing and the mess hall on the first floor was turned into a large, well-heated office with glass-partitioned private offices, and equipped with typewriters and mimeograph machines. The new regimental office had strong contrast with their Pines Bridge Inn office, it having been drafty, dirt-floored and poorly-lit. The site opened for their use on October 8, 1918, and the regiment fully demobilized on February 1, 1919. A reunion was held at the former school grounds for many of the troops from March 23 to 25, 1919. In June 1919, V. Everit Macy gave the property, buildings, and $7,500 for remodeling to the Teachers College Country Club; Macy was chairman of the college's board of trustees at the time. The club was founded on October 4, 1919, and initially used a building called Hill Cottage, which it outgrew shortly thereafter. The club opened there on September 1, 1919, and existed there until at least 1927. Presidents included Henry C. Pearson (1919–21), Jesse C. Williams (1921–23), Walter H. Eddy (1923–25), and Edward S. Evanden (1925).

Walter W. Law Walter William Law (November 13, 1837 – January 17, 1924) was a businessman and the founder of the 8,000-person village of Briarcliff Manor, New York. He was a vice president of furniture and carpet retailer W. & J. Sloane, and later founded t ...

gave the club's members (which numbered 200 in 1920) the right to use Briarcliff Manor's 9-hole golf course, the present-day Trump National Golf Club.

Curricula

In 1903 the school consisted of six

forms Form is the shape, visual appearance, or configuration of an object. In a wider sense, the form is the way something happens. Form also refers to: *Form (document), a document (printed or electronic) with spaces in which to write or enter data * ...

, the first two making up the

lower school Three-tier education refers to those structures of schooling, which exist in some parts of England, where pupils are taught in three distinct school types as they progress through the education system. Terminology In a three-tier local educ ...

and the remaining four making up the

upper school Upper schools in the UK are usually schools within secondary education. Outside England, the term normally refers to a section of a larger school. England The three-tier model Upper schools are a type of secondary school found in a minority of ...

; in the upper school students chose from three

curricula In education, a curriculum (; : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view ...

: classical, Latin-scientific, or English-scientific. Students received grades for

deportment Behavior (American English) or behaviour (British English) is the range of actions and mannerisms made by individuals, organisms, systems or artificial entities in some environment. These systems can include other systems or organisms as well ...

, application, spelling,

declamation Declamation (from the Latin: ''declamatio'') is an artistic form of public speaking. It is a dramatic oration designed to express through articulation, emphasis and gesture the full sense of the text being conveyed. History In Ancient Rome, decla ...

and

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

church attendance Church attendance is a central religious practice for many Christians; some Christian denominations, such as the Catholic Church require church attendance on the Lord's Day (Sunday); the Westminster Confession of Faith is held by the Reformed Ch ...

, and skill at military drill, as well as in classes where they learned arithmetic, algebra, French, Latin, German, and Greek. Sports included baseball, football, tennis, hockey, track, athletics, and golf. The school issued a merit roll every four weeks, where students were ranked on conduct, lessons and attendance.

Notable people

George Whipple George Hoyt Whipple (August 28, 1878 – February 1, 1976) was an American physician, pathologist, biomedical researcher, and medical school educator and administrator. Whipple shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1934 with George ...

, a physician and pathologist, was a teacher at the school for a year before he started work at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

. Composer and organist

Fannie Morris Spencer Fannie Morris Spencer (August 15, 1865 - April 9, 1943) was an American composer and organist who wrote a collection of 32 hymns and was a founding member of the American Guild of Organists. Spencer was born in Newburgh, New York, to Cynthia McCo ...

was also a teacher. Notable students include

Donn Barber Donn Barber FAIA (October 19, 1871 – May 29, 1925) was an American architect. Biography Barber was born on October 19, 1871 in Washington DC, the son of Charles Gibbs Barber, and the grandson of Hiram Barber. He studied at Holbrook Mili ...

, an architect,

Nelson Doubleday Nelson Doubleday (June 16, 1889 – January 11, 1949) was a U.S. book publisher and president of Doubleday Company from 1922–1946. His father Frank Nelson Doubleday had founded the business. His son Nelson Doubleday Jr. followed him i ...

, a publisher,

Edward Avery McIlhenny Edward Avery McIlhenny (March 29, 1872 – August 8, 1949), son of Tabasco brand pepper sauce tycoon Edmund McIlhenny, was an American businessman, explorer, bird bander and conservationist. He established a private wildlife refuge around his ...

, a businessman, explorer, and conservationist,

John Avery McIlhenny John Avery McIlhenny (1867–1942) was an American businessman, soldier, politician and civil servant. He was the eldest son of Tabasco sauce inventor Edmund McIlhenny. Background Born on Avery Island, Louisiana, McIlhenny was educated on the ...

, a businessman, soldier, politician, and public servant,

Harold Medina Harold Raymond Medina (February 16, 1888 – March 14, 1990) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and previously was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for ...

, a lawyer, teacher and judge, and

John W. Norton John Warner Norton (7 March 1876 – 7 January 1934) was an American painter and muralist who pioneered the field in the United States. Norton was born in Lockport, Illinois, the son of John Lyman Norton and Ada Clara Gooding Norton. The family ...

, a muralist and easel artist.

Notes

References

External links