Saint James School is an independent
boarding and
day school
A day school — as opposed to a boarding school — is an educational institution where children and adolescents are given instructions during the day, after which the students return to their homes. A day school has full-day programs when compa ...
in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
of
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
. Founded in 1842 as the College and Grammar School of St. James's, the school is a
coeducational
college preparatory school and the oldest Episcopal boarding school in the United States founded as a boarding school proper.
History
Saint James is the second iteration of a type of school conceived by
William Augustus Muhlenberg
William Augustus Muhlenberg (September 16, 1796April 8, 1877) was an Episcopal clergyman and educator. Muhlenberg is considered the father of church schools in the United States. An early exponent of the Social Gospel, he founded St. Luke's Ho ...
(1796–1877), who founded model schools on Long Island in 1828 and 1836. The founding Rector of Saint James was
John Barrett Kerfoot (1816–1881), who was Muhlenberg's principal disciple for thirteen years before Muhlenberg sent him to Western Maryland to extend the mission. The models established at Flushing and College Point, Long Island, and in St. James, Maryland, were the mother lode for much subsequent prospecting. Graduates and staff from Saint James founded St. Paul's (The Rev. Joseph H. Coit, M.A.), Concord, New Hampshire, St. Mark's, Southborough, Massachusetts; and several other schools. Racine College in Wisconsin (1852) was modeled on Saint James and its celebrated rector James DeKoven recruited faculty from Saint James.
Administration
Saint James is one of twenty-four Episcopal Schools in the
Diocese of Maryland. The school is governed by a
board of trustees. A
Prefect
Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area.
A prefect's ...
Council, made up of ten seniors elected by the students and the faculty, upholds the traditions of Saint James and assists faculty members and the Headmaster in the day-to-day operations of the School. Of this group, one member is elected Senior Prefect, and he or she leads the Prefects.
The
Sacristans and Chapel
Vestry
A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...
assist in the liturgy of daily services. The Senior Sacristan is the second ranking position for students on campus, following the Senior Prefect, and is the chief student assistant to the Chaplain, currently the Rev. Dr. Brandt Montgomery.
Saint James School is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and the Maryland State Department of Education. The school is a member of: the
National Association of Independent Schools
The National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) is a U.S.-based membership organization for private, nonprofit, K-12 schools. Founded in 1962, NAIS represents independent schools and associations in the United States, including day, boa ...
, the Association of Independent Maryland Schools,
Cum Laude Society
The Cum Laude Society is an organization that honors scholastic achievement at secondary institutions, similar to the Phi Beta Kappa Society, which honors scholastic achievements at the university level. It was founded at The Tome School in 19 ...
, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, and the
National Association of Episcopal Schools
The National Association of Episcopal Schools (NAES) is a membership organization of approximately 1200 pre-collegiate schools and early childhood education programs in the United States.
Membership is restricted to schools owned, operated, or sp ...
.
Sex abuse
In the 1980s, several boarding students were sexually abused by Father Kenneth Behrel, a teacher. The school dismissed Behrel. Prosecutors in a trial that eventually resulted in Behrel's imprisonment found that the school bore some responsibility.
Campus
Saint James School is situated in a rural area. The Georgian-style buildings are in farmland containing a natural spring, fields, and streams. Total acreage exceeds 800 acres. The school lies southwest of Hagerstown and is approximately from both
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
and
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
*Claggett Hall: The largest boys' dorm on campus, Claggett houses over 60 fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-formers as well as several faculty members.
*Kemp Hall: The campus student center.
*Powell Hall: The main academic building with over 20 classrooms.
*John E. Owens Library.
*Kerfoot Refectory.
*Laidlaw Infirmary.
*Cotton Building and the Bowman Fine Arts Center: The Fine Arts Center houses the auditorium, which seats about 300. This building includes music study rooms, the art studio/yearbook room, and a Choir room. The Mummer's Society puts on several plays every year, including a fall drama, a spring musical, senior-directed plays, and the Christmas Tradition of St. George and the Dragon.
*Alumni Hall: Alumni Hall houses two wrestling rooms, two dance studios, a weight room, locker rooms, and a field house. The field house contains three basketball courts which can be converted into four tennis courts or two volleyball courts.
*The Chapel.
*Mattingly Hall: A dorm for third- and fourth-form boys. Hershey Hall was renovated in the spring of 2006 and renamed Mattingly Hall in honor of John M. Mattingly '58.
*Onderdonk Hall: A dorm for second- and third-form boys.
*Holloway House: The fourth-, fifth- and sixth-form girls' dorm.
*Coors Hall: A dorm for second-, third-, and fourth-form girls.
*Bai Yuka: The school's water source, the Bai Yuka is a natural spring that runs through campus and whose name is Native American for "fountain rock".
*Biggs Rectory: The headmaster's house was completed in 2002.
Notable alumni
*
Samuel S. Carroll Commander of the famed
Gibraltar Brigade
The "Gibraltar Brigade" was a famed infantry brigade within the Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War. Recognizing its tenacity in combat at the Battle of Antietam, William H. French, Brigadier General William French assigned the nickn ...
*
Grant Golden, basketball player, currently for the
University of Richmond Spiders
*
James L. Holloway III Former Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral USN, Ret.
*
James M. Jasper Author, professor, and sociologist
*
Foster MacKenzie III, Deceased Boogie/Rock/Blues Musician
*
Alfred Thayer Mahan
Alfred Thayer Mahan (; September 27, 1840 – December 1, 1914) was a United States naval officer and historian, whom John Keegan called "the most important American strategist of the nineteenth century." His book '' The Influence of Sea Powe ...
, 1856, naval strategist.
*
Daniel Robinson Jr., American steel-string guitarist
*
Robert Jenkins Onderdonk 1870, Texas artist and father of Julian Onderdonk (1882–1922), the "father of Texas painting"
*
Bertram Wyatt-Brown
Bertram Wyatt-Brown (March 19, 1932 – November 5, 2012) was a noted historian of the Southern United States. He was the Richard J. Milbauer Professor Emeritus at the University of Florida, where he taught from 1983-2004; he also taught at Case W ...
(1932–2012), Milbauer Professor of History, University of Florida; noted Americanist and author of ''Southern Honor.''
*
Justin Robinson, Professional basketball player for the
Washington Wizards
The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays ...
*
Joseph J. Himmel, Jesuit missionary and president of
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...
*
Thomas Richey
Thomas Richey (November 1, 1831 — June 3, 1905) was a prominent Irish-American Anglo-Catholic priest, professor, and author in the Episcopal Church. He was born in Newry, County Down, in Ireland and had settled in Pittsburgh by 1847, following hi ...
, Anglo-Catholic priest and professor
*
John Metchie III
John Metchie III (born July 18, 2000) is a Canadian gridiron football wide receiver for the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Alabama, winning the Jon Cornish Trophy twice prior to being draf ...
, American football wide receiver for the
Houston Texans of the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
References
* David Hein, editor. ''Religion and Politics in Maryland on the Eve of the Civil War: The Letters of W. Wilkins Davis''. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2009. (An updated version of a book published in 1988 in hardcover as ''A Student's View of the College of St. James on the Eve of the Civil War''.)
* David Hein, "The High Church Origins of the American Boarding School." ''Journal of Ecclesiastical History'' 42 (1991): 577-95.
* Herbert B. Adams, editor
History of Education in Maryland 1894, pp 258–260 by Reverend Hall Harrison
Life of the Right Reverend John Barrett Kerfoot D.D. L.L.D., First Bishop of Pittsburgh, by Hall Harrison, M.A., Vol. 1, pp. 46 – 48, published by James Pott & Co., New York 1886 (Google Books)
* Civil War Diary of Joseph H. Coit, Maryland Historical Magazine, volume 60. p 245 (edited by James McLachlan).
* James S. McLachlan, "American Boarding Schools: A Historical Study" (New York: Scribners, 1970).
* W.L. Prehn, "Episcopal Schools," The Praeger Handbook of Faith-Based Schools in the United States, Vol I, edited by Thomas C. Hunt and James C. Carper (Santa Barbara, Denver, and Oxford UK: ABC-Clio/Praeger, 2012); 76-89.
* W.L. Prehn, Editor, ''Saint James School of Maryland: 175 Years '' (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2021).
*W.L. Prehn, "Social Vision, Character, and Academic Excellence in Nineteenth-Century America: William Augustus Muhlenberg and the Church School Movement, 1828-1877." Ph.D dissertation, University of Virginia (2005). Chapters on Kerfoot and Saint James.
* The David K.M. Prehn Collection in the Saint James School Archives is a growing resource for the study of the Church school movement on both sides of the Atlantic and of high-quality faith-based education in general. The Collection features original primary documents or copies thereof related to W.A. Muhlenberg's model schools on Long Island; documents useful for the study of the schools founded by Muhlenberg's proteges, especially Kerfoot, Lloyd Breck, and Henry Coit of St. Paul's; histories of prep schools in the United Kingdom and the United States; biographies of Church school headmasters and other staff; and articles and monographs addressing the historical context and conditions in which the pan-Atlantic Church school arose. In this Collection the researcher may get a better idea of the relationship between the 19th-century "Church Revival" and the school-founding phenomenon.
References
External links
Official St. James School Homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint James School
Boarding schools in Maryland
Christianity in Hagerstown, Maryland
Private high schools in Maryland
Educational institutions established in 1842
Episcopal schools in Maryland
Schools in Hagerstown, Maryland
Episcopal church buildings in Maryland
1842 establishments in Maryland