The Noble and Greenough School, commonly known as Nobles, is a coeducational,

nonsectarian Nonsectarian institutions are secular institutions or other organizations not affiliated with or restricted to a particular religious group. Academic sphere Examples of US universities that identify themselves as being nonsectarian include Adelp ...

day and five-day boarding school for students in grades seven through twelve. It is near Boston on a campus that borders the

Charles River The Charles River ( Massachusett: ''Quinobequin)'' (sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles) is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton to Boston along a highly meandering route, that doubles b ...

in Dedham, Massachusetts. The current enrollment of 614 students includes a balance of boys and girls. The boarding program hosts 45 students who live on campus five days a week. The majority of students are from

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, neighboring states, and occasionally from abroad. In recent history, all members of the senior class go on to accredited four-year colleges and universities. In 2010, Nobles was ranked as the 18th best prep school in the United States by ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

''. Nobles has 134 faculty members, with a student to faculty ratio of approximately 6:1. The average class size is 12. Tuition for the 2021-2022 academic year is $55,700 for day students and $61,700 for five-day boarding students. Nobles' historic athletic rival is

Milton Academy Milton Academy (also known as Milton) is a highly selective, coeducational, independent preparatory, boarding and day school in Milton, Massachusetts consisting of a grade 9–12 Upper School and a grade K–8 Lower School. Boarding is offered ...

. The Noble and Greenough Middle School consists of 122 students in the 7th and 8th grades, with approximately 60 students in each grade. The middle school has a different afternoon activities program from the upper school. Not all students start in the middle school at Nobles.

History

Nobles was founded in 1866 by George Washington Copp Noble, in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Massachusetts, as an all-boys preparatory school for

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

. It became known as Noble & Greenough in 1892. During World War I, the school merged with Boston-based Volkman School, which had faced a drastically declining student population due to the headmaster's German origins. There is a monument to the Volkman School on the Nobles campus. In 1922, the school moved from Boston to its current location in Dedham. The property had previously been the estate of Albert W. Nickerson. The grounds were designed by

Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co ...

. The school discontinued its lower school at this time, which caused parents to start the

Dexter School The Dexter Southfield School is an independent co-educational day school located in Brookline, Massachusetts, educating students from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. Dexter Southfield was founded in 1926 as the Dexter School. In 2013 the ...

, to fill the gap created. In 1975, Nobles began admitting girls.

Athletics at Nobles

Nobles is a member of the

Independent School League Independent School League or ISL may refer to: * Independent School League (Illinois), a group of nine Chicago-area preparatory schools * Independent School League (New England), a group of 16 New England preparatory schools * Independent School Le ...

. The school has 25 varsity teams. Boys and girls participate in soccer, cross-country, hockey, basketball, squash, skiing, golf, lacrosse, tennis, crew, and the newly formed ultimate frisbee team. Boys also participate in football, wrestling, and baseball, while girls participate in volleyball, field hockey and softball. Former Boston College hockey players, goalie,

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( AHL), and forwards,

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( NHL),

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(NHL) and younger brother Kevin Hayes (NHL), attended Nobles. Chris Huxley, Harvard Captain Nobles and

historically have a Nobles/Milton Day each athletic season. On this day, usually nearing or on the last game of the season, the two schools compete in almost every sport.

Notable graduates

Notable

alumni Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...

of Noble and Greenough include: NG MainBuilding

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, class of 1994, president of the Maine State Senate * Devin Gallaher, Class of 2008, Artist *

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, director of the

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, class of 1982, actor featured in ER,

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, class of 2006, singer and daughter of Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown * Michael Jude Christodal, class of 1986, recording artist, songwriter * Chris Cleary, class of 1998, professional soccer player *

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, founder of the Black Sun Press *

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, American actor * Harry J. Elam Jr., president of Occidental College * Keith Elam, member of

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, aka Guru * Selden Edwards, class of 1959, best-selling novelist * Mark Fayne, class of 2006, hockey player for New Jersey Devils of NHL * Richard P. Freeman, class of 1888, U.S. Representative * Seth Goldman, class of 1983, cofounder, president and CEO of

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* Wycliffe Grousbeck, class of 1979, co-owner of the Boston Celtics * Tucker Halpern, class of 2009, member of the Grammy-nominated DJ duo

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* Kevin Hayden, class of 1986, Suffolk County district attorney *

(ice hockey) Professional hockey player

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* Kevin Hayes, class of 2011, professional hockey player,

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* Melvin Johnson, class of 1927, weapons designer, Harvard professor *

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, class of 1954, educator, activist & author *

Mr. Lif Jeffrey Haynes (born December 28, 1977), better known by his stage name Mr. Lif, is an American rapper from Boston, Massachusetts. While being praised because of his political lyrics, he has released two studio albums on Definitive Jux and one ...

, rap artist * Clarence Cook Little, class of 1906, biologist and president of

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

* Royal Little, class of 1915, founder of Fortune 500 company

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and "father of conglomerates" *

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, class of 1873, President of Harvard (1909–1933) *

Guy Lowell Guy Lowell (August 6, 1870 – February 4, 1927), was an American architect and landscape architect. Biography Born in Boston, Lowell was the son of Mary Walcott (Goodrich) and Edward Jackson Lowell, and a member of Boston's well-known Lowe ...

, class of 1888, architect of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the New York State Supreme Courthouse *

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, class of 1872, astronomer * Ralph Lowell, class of 1907, banker and philanthropist *

Francis Peabody Magoun Francis Peabody Magoun, Jr. Military Cross, MC (6 January 1895 – 5 June 1979) was one of the seminal figures in the study of medieval and English literature in the 20th century, a scholar of subjects as varied as soccer and ancient Germani ...

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and scholar of languages and literature *

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, class of 1901, American historian and author *

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, class of 1929, former chief executive of

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and chairman of Federal Reserve Bank of New York * Sarah Parsons, class of 2005, member of the 2006 Olympic ice hockey team *

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, class of 1896, United States diplomat * Roger Putnam, American politician and businessman * Helen Resor, class of 2004, member of the 2006 Olympic ice hockey team * Alexander H. Rice Jr., class of 1894, physician and explorer of South America *

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, class of 1910, governor of Massachusetts (1939–1945) and United States Senator (1945–1967) *

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, class of 1935, governor of Massachusetts (1969–1975) * Henry Lee Shattuck, class of 1897, attorney, philanthropist and politician *

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, American businessman, CEO of

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* Louis Agassiz Shaw, inventor of the

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, Harvard professor * Courtney Sims, class of 2003, NBA Basketball player * Warren Cummings Smith, class of 2011, 2014 Winter Olympics alpine skier * Robert Storer (b. 1893) Harvard University football player and World War I war hero * Karen Thatcher, class of 2002, Olympic women's hockey player for Team USA * J. Rupert Thompson, class of 1986, reality television show producer * Chris Tierney, class of 2004, professional soccer player,

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, class of 1983, best-selling novelist * George Clapp Vaillant, anthropologist and author * Dan Weinstein, class of 1999, Olympic speed skater * James N. Wood, class of 1959, former president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust *

, class of 2015, professional ice hockey player for the New Jersey Devils

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Noble And Greenough School 1866 establishments in Massachusetts Boarding schools in Massachusetts Co-educational boarding schools Educational institutions established in 1866 Independent School League Private high schools in Massachusetts Private middle schools in Massachusetts Private preparatory schools in Massachusetts Schools in Dedham, Massachusetts