Miss Porter's School (MPS) is an elite American
private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...
college preparatory school
A college-preparatory school (usually shortened to preparatory school or prep school) is a type of secondary school. The term refers to public, private independent or parochial schools primarily designed to prepare students for higher education ...
for girls founded in 1843, and located in
Farmington, Connecticut
Farmington is a town in Hartford County in the Farmington Valley area of central Connecticut in the United States. The population was 26,712 at the 2020 census. It sits 10 miles west of Hartford at the hub of major I-84 interchanges, 20 miles s ...
. The school draws students from 21 states, 31 countries (with dual-citizenship and/or residence), and 17 countries (citizenship alone) and international students comprised 14% as of the 2017–2018 year.
The average class size was 10 students in 2017.
The community traditionally denotes those new to campus collectively as ''New Girls'', those returning members as ''Old Girls'', and alumnae as ''Ancients''.
History
Early history and Porter
![Sarah Porter](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Sarah_Porter.jpg)
Miss Porter's School was established in 1843 by education reformer
Sarah Porter
Sarah Porter (August 16, 1813 – February 18, 1900) was the American educator who founded Miss Porter's School, a private college preparatory school for girls.
Biography
She was born in Farmington, Connecticut, to Rev. Noah Porter (1781 & ...
, who recognized the importance of women's education.
She was insistent that the school's curriculum include chemistry, physiology, botany, geology, and astronomy in addition to the more traditional Latin, French, German, spelling, reading, arithmetic, trigonometry, history, and geography. Also encouraged were such athletic opportunities as tennis, horseback riding, and in 1867 the school formed its own baseball team, the Tunxises, the name of which itself harkens back to those members of the
Saukiog The Saukiog tribe (sometimes spelled Sickaog or Suckiaug) was a Native American people who lived in the Hartford, Connecticut vicinity circa the early 17th century.
The Saukiog spoke an Algonquian dialect and were part of the Algonquian confede ...
tribe who originally settled the area on which the school is situated.
Mary Dunning Dow (1884–1903)
In 1884, Sarah Porter hired her former student,
Mary Elizabeth Dunning Dow, with whom she began to share more of her duties as Head of School. From then until her death in 1900, Porter gradually relinquished her control of the school to Dow.
Sarah Porter's will named her nephew,
Robert Porter Keep, as executor of her estate, of which the school was the most valuable asset. Dow's compensation for her position as sole Head of School was also specified in the will. As executor, Robert Keep began extensive repairs and renovations to the school. While Dow continued to receive a salary as per Porter's will, she became convinced that Keep, in diverting the school's income to pay for construction, was enriching his inheritance with funds that were rightfully hers. The conflict escalated and culminated in Dow's resignation in 1903. She moved to
Briarcliff, New York, taking with her as many as 140 students and 16 faculty members, and began
Mrs. Dow's School for Girls, which would come to be known as
Briarcliff Junior College only to be absorbed by
Pace University
Pace University is a private university with its main campus in New York City and secondary campuses in Westchester County, New York. It was established in 1906 by the brothers Homer St. Clair Pace and Charles A. Pace as a business school. Pace ...
in 1977.
Elizabeth Hale Keep and Robert Keep (1903–1943)
Robert Keep announced in July 1903 that the school would reopen in October of that year with his wife,
Elizabeth Vashti Hale Keep
Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to:
People
* Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name)
* Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist
Ships
* HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships
* ''Elisabeth'' (sc ...
as Head of School, eleven teachers, and between five and sixteen students in attendance. After Keep succumbed to pneumonia and died on July 3, 1904, Elizabeth Keep continued his legacy of renovation and construction. One of her many legacies was the establishment of a kindergarten for children of her employees.
The kindergarten, on Garden Street, became the Village Cooperative Nursery School, and is no longer connected with Miss Porter's School. When Mrs. Keep died of influenza on March 28, 1917, leadership of the school passed to her stepson,
Robert Porter Keep, Jr.
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...
, who moved to Farmington from
Andover, Massachusetts
Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ed., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 387. As of th ...
where he had been teaching German at
Phillips Academy
("Not for Self") la, Finis Origine Pendet ("The End Depends Upon the Beginning") Youth From Every Quarter Knowledge and Goodness
, address = 180 Main Street
, city = Andover
, state = Ma ...
. From 1917 until the school's Centennial, in 1943, he and his wife,
RoseAnne Day Keep
''Roseanne'' is an American sitcom television series created by Matt Williams and Roseanne Barr which aired on ABC from October 18, 1988, to May 20, 1997, and briefly revived from March 27, 2018, to May 22, 2018. The show stars Barr as Rosean ...
, remained Heads of School at Miss Porter's.
Robert Keep appointed members to the first Board of Trustees in 1943, including:
*
Wilmarth S. Lewis, Yale University's Horace Walpole scholar
*
Annie Burr Auchincloss Lewis
Annie may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Annie (given name), a given name and a list of people and fictional characters with the name
* Annie (actress) (born 1975), Indian actress
* Annie (singer) (born 1977), Norwegian singer
Th ...
, Wilmarth Lewis's wife
* The Rev.
Palfrey Perkins
A palfrey is a type of horse that was highly valued as a riding horse in the Middle Ages. It was a lighter-weight horse, usually a smooth gaited one that could amble, suitable for riding over long distances. Palfreys were not a specific breed ...
, a senior minister at
King's Chapel
King's Chapel is an American independent christianity, Christian unitarianism, unitarian congregation affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist Association that is "unitarian Christian in theology, anglicanism, Anglican in worship, and congrega ...
*
Lewis Perry Lewis Perry (January 3, 1877 – January 27, 1970) was an American educator and the eighth principal of Phillips Exeter Academy.
Lewis Perry was born in Williamstown, Massachusetts on January 3, 1877, to Arthur Latham Perry, a prominent economist ...
, headmaster of
Phillips Exeter Academy
(not for oneself) la, Finis Origine Pendet (The End Depends Upon the Beginning) gr, Χάριτι Θεοῦ (By the Grace of God)
, location = 20 Main Street
, city = Exeter, New Hampshire
, zipcode ...
*
George H. Richards, a lawyer and Mr. Keep's classmate at Yale University
Centennial (1943)
The school was incorporated as a non-profit institution during the school's Centennial in 1943, with the primary purpose as a college preparatory school rather than its previous reputation as a finishing school for the social elite.
Also in 1943, the school ended the tradition of choosing a successive Head of School from the Porter family tree, selecting as its Heads,
Ward L. Johnson and his wife Katharine Johnson.
Katherine Windsor (2009–present)
Since 2009, the Head of School is Katherine Windsor,
who draws on her past experience running the
Center for Talented Youth
The Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY) is a gifted education program for school-age children founded in 1979 by psychologist Julian Stanley at Johns Hopkins University. It was established as a research study into how academically adv ...
program 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 ...
and
The Sage School
Foxborough is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, about southwest of Boston, northeast of Providence, Rhode Island and about northwest of Cape Cod. Foxborough is part of the Greater Boston area. The population was 18,618 a ...
in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Her tenure as Head of School has seen the school, among other things, instantiate its partnership with the
University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education
The University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, commonly known as Penn GSE, is an Ivy League top-ranked educational research school in the United States. Formally established as a school at the University of Pennsylvania in 1914, Penn ...
’s Independent School Teaching Residency program. On March 31, 2021, Windsor announced via her Twitter account that she is currently serving as a faculty member at the UPenn Graduate School of Education.
As of 2018, the school's endowment was estimated at $113 million.
Campus
The 40-acre campus overlooks the
Farmington River
The Farmington River is a river, U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 in length along its main stem, located in northwest Connecticut with major tributaries ex ...
and includes a number of historically significant buildings which have collectively served the wider Farmington community in a range of functional capacities over their respective histories. Over the years, the school has transformed its campus assets to suit its needs.
The school currently maintains a total of nine student residence halls, two of which are strictly limited to the senior class: Brick, Colony, Humphrey, Keep, Lathrop, Macomber, Main, New Place, and Ward.
Academic facilities
* Main building: The main building is located at 60 Main Street. The front door of which is depicted on the school seal, was built in 1830 as the Union Hotel on Main Street. Originally intended to serve patrons of the nearby Farmington Canal, it was rented to Sarah Porter in 1848 until her eventual purchase on April 19, 1866.
Retrofitted with a kitchen during a renovation c. 1870s, the building serves as the central-most hub of campus life. More recently, the dining hall was expanded to accommodate the school's burgeoning enrollment; a project which also saw the campus security office and adjacent student spaces reimagined with intentions to bring the whole facility around to bear a closer historic resemblance to the original hotel, and the school opting to have the structure outfitted with an elevator to facilitate access.
* Thomas Hart Grist Mill: The Thomas Hart Grist Mill dates back to the 1600s and predates most of the structures in its vicinity. Until the 1960s, the site was a functioning grist mill noted for its historical service to President
Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States from 1923 to 1929. Born in Vermont, Coolidge was a History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer ...
. In 2012, the building was purchased by the school and renovated, it now serves as the school's admissions office.
*Thomas Hart Hooker House: The Thomas Hart Hooker House was built in 1770 and is located on Main Street.
It currently serves as the campus alumnae/i and development office.
*Faculty housing: The historical buildings ''Major Timothy Cowles House'', and ''Samuel Deming Store'' (also known as F.L. Scott Store, Your Village Store) are both located in Mills Street and serve as faculty housing.
*M. Burch Tracy Ford Library: The M. Burch Tracy Ford Library, often abbreviated to Ford, is one of the newer academic facilities on campus. It is named for the school's eleventh Head of School and houses over 22,000 volumes, electronic books, magazines, journals, newspapers in addition to a collection of 1,308 academic and entertainment DVDs and videos. The building also houses a computer lab and eight study rooms.
* Hamilton building: Hamilton was previously a dorm, and is currently home to the English and History departments. It is named for the Hamilton sisters, most notably
Alice and
Edith
Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English words ēad, meaning 'riches or blessed', and is in common usage in this form in English, German, many Scandinavian languages and Dutch. Its French form is Édith. Contractions and var ...
.
* Leila Dilworth Jones ’44 Memorial: The Leila Dilworth Jones ’44 Memorial is commonly abbreviated to Jones or Jones Memorial. It served as a pharmacy prior to the school's founding, is home to the language department, where students may immerse themselves in modern and classical cultures including, but not limited to, Spanish, Latin, French, or Mandarin. As with most buildings on campus, Jones Memorial has served in many operational capacities to suit the school's functional needs, sporadically as faculty housing and as temporary storage for the school's library contents.
* Kate Lewis Gym: The Kate Lewis Gym, at one time serving as the campus's only gym and theater. It now serves as the schools music rehearsal space. In the years since it was built and incorporated into the campus, it has served in a variety of functional capacities as befits the advancement of the school's mission and, in its current state, is considered to be home to the school's student a cappella group, ''The Perilhettes''. The space is wedged between Main and the space known to the community as ''Counting House'', itself once housing the music program and currently serving in an administrative capacity as the school's business office.
* Ann Whitney Olin Arts and Science Center: The Ann Whitney Olin Arts and Science Center, also known as Olin, is the main building for mathematics, science, and arts. Studio art labs include a painting and ceramics studio, each with ceilings and of windows, separated by a textiles lab and a digital media lab, while the lower level of the facility is home to the department's photography classroom and darkroom, and all with full wheelchair-access accreditations. The renovation and expansion of this building was designed by
Tai Soo Kim
Tai or TAI may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*Tai (comics) a fictional Marvel Comics supervillain
*Tai Fraiser, a fictional character in the 1995 film ''Clueless''
*Tai Kamiya, a fictional character in ''Digimon''
Businesses and organisations ...
.
Athletic facilities
Athletic facilities on campus include the Colgate Wellness Center, the Student Recreation Center, the Mellon Gymnasium, the Gaines Dance Barn, the Pool & Squash Building, the Farmington Boat House, Kiki's Field, and Oaklea Field.
Athletics
Porter's competes in the
Founders League
The Founders League is an American athletic league comprising a number of college preparatory schools. Founded in 1984, it consists of ten schools in Connecticut and one from eastern New York. All of the schools in the Conference are founding memb ...
with
Choate Rosemary Hall
Choate Rosemary Hall (often known as Choate; ) is a private, co-educational, college-preparatory boarding school in Wallingford, Connecticut, United States. Choate is currently ranked as the second best boarding school and third best private high ...
,
Hotchkiss,
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
,
Kingswood-Oxford
Kingswood Oxford School is a private school located in West Hartford, Connecticut instructing day students in grades 6 through 12 with a college preparatory curriculum. Originally two separate schools, Kingswood School and Oxford School for boys a ...
,
Loomis Chaffee
The Loomis Chaffee School (; LC or Loomis) is a selective independent, coeducational, college preparatory school for boarding and day students in grades 9–12, including postgraduate students, located in Windsor, Connecticut, seven miles north ...
,
Taft and
Westminster
Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster.
The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...
schools. At the end of each season, Porter's competes against the league's most competitive teams in the New England Championships. Porter's traditional rival is
The Ethel Walker School
The Ethel Walker School, also commonly referred to as “Walker’s”, is a private, college preparatory, boarding and day school for girls in grades 6 through 12 plus postgraduate located in Simsbury, Connecticut.
History
Founded in 191 ...
.
Clubs, sports, and organizations
In addition to an array of club and varsity sports, the school boasts current slate of over fifty active student-run clubs and organizations that cater to a wide variety of its students’ interests. If a student doesn't find an organization that fits their specific interest or need, there is a process by which they can create their own. Amongst this wide array of clubs are a smattering of organizational boards that sustain each of the school's community-wide publications:
* ''Salmagundy'' is the school's student-run monthly newspaper, founded October 27, 1945. Salmagundy is now both an online and paper publication.
* The school's journal for scholarly writing, ''Chautauqua'', sharing its name with the
US adult education movement, offers publication examples of student research across a variety of academic disciplines.
* The school's yearbook, ''Daeges Eage'',
literally translates from
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
to "eye of the day," from which the modern word "daisy" is derived.
* ''Haggis/Baggis'', the school's magazine for literature and fine arts,
features student poems, short stories, photographs, and artwork. Since it was first published in 1967, the magazine has received numerous awards and recognitions.
* ''The Language Literary Magazine'' is a yearly publication which showcases writings by foreign language students, including essays, poems, commentaries, and dialogues.
Notable alumnae
File:Mrs Kennedy in the Diplomatic Reception Room cropped.jpg, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American socialite, writer, photographer, and book editor who served as first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A pop ...
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File:Mrs. Algernon Sartoris (Nellie Grant) LCCN2017893285 (cropped).jpg, Nellie Grant
File:Miss Julia Lathrop LCCN2016825127.jpg, Julia Lathrop
Julia Clifford Lathrop (June 29, 1858 – April 15, 1932) was an American social reformer in the area of education, social policy, and children's welfare. As director of the United States Children's Bureau from 1912 to 1922, she was the first wo ...
File:Norah, Alice, Margaret, and Edith Hamilton.jpg, Norah, Alice, Margaret, and Edith
Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English words ēad, meaning 'riches or blessed', and is in common usage in this form in English, German, many Scandinavian languages and Dutch. Its French form is Édith. Contractions and var ...
Hamilton
File:Theodate Pope, Alice Hamilton, and a student believed to be Agnes Hamilton, 1888.jpg, Theodate Pope, Alice Hamilton, and a student believed to be Agnes Hamilton, 1888
File:Madeline Breckinridge, full-length portrait, seated at desk, facing slightly left, with quill pen in hand LCCN94508584.jpg, Madeline Breckinridge
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File:Edith Bouvier Beale (1975 Grey Gardens poster portrait).jpg, Edith Bouvier Beale
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Gene Eliza Tierney (November 19, 1920 – November 6, 1991) was an American film and stage actress. Acclaimed for her great beauty, she became established as a leading lady. Tierney was best known for her portrayal of the title character in the ...
File:Dina Merrill 1999.jpg, Dina Merrill
Dina Merrill (born Nedenia Marjorie Hutton; December 29, 1923 – May 22, 2017) was an American actress, heiress, socialite, businesswoman, and philanthropist.
Early life
Merrill was born in New York City on December 29, 1923, but for man ...
File:Photograph of Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Lee Bouvier Radziwill, Sister of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, at a State dinner Honoring Chancellor Bruno Kreisky of Austria - NARA - 7462064.jpg, Lee Bouvier Radziwill (right)
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File:Flickr - Genevieve719 - Hannah Simone, Jake Kasdan, Katherine Pope.jpg, Katherine Pope
Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and Catherina, other variations are feminine Given name, names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria ...
(right)
File:Mary Anne Mohanraj, July 2012.jpg, Mary Anne Mohanraj
File:Eliza Talcott 002.jpg, Eliza Talcott
Eliza Talcott (born 1836, died 1911), also known by her Japanese name Eliza Tarukatto, was an American missionary. Talcott was notable for her missionary work in Japan, and is credited as one of the founders of Kobe College.
Biography
Talcott ...
File:Helen Gilman Noyes Brown (The Biographical Cyclopaedia of American Women, 1925).png, Helen Gilman Noyes Brown
Helen Gilman Noyes Brown (October 12, 1867 – December 12, 1942) was an American philanthropist.
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References
External links
*
{{authority control
Private high schools in Connecticut
Boarding schools in Connecticut
Girls' schools in Connecticut
Preparatory schools in Connecticut
Schools in Hartford County, Connecticut
Educational institutions established in 1843
Farmington, Connecticut
1843 establishments in Connecticut