Darrow’s History
written by Andrew Vadnais, Head of School
Darrow School’s history is unique among independent schools. Darrow is one of only a handful of schools in the country to have its campus designated as a National Historic Landmark Site. Darrow is not a Shaker school, but it did inherit its incredible campus from the Mount Lebanon Shakers. The Shakers —one of America’s most successful utopian communities - lived and worked here from 1785 until the 1930s.
The Shakers valued education. In 1930, as their community numbers were dwindling, they partnered with friends from the New Lebanon area to create The Lebanon School for Boys. Many prominent educators joined the effort, including Frank Boyden (Deerfield Academy), Horace Taft (The Taft School), and George Van Santvoord (The Hotchkiss School). In 1938, C. Lambert Heyniger purchased the school and changed its name to Darrow School. Darrow remained an all-boys school until 1970 when the first girls were admitted.
Today, Darrow’s campus contains 24 buildings (16 historic Shaker buildings) and over 380 acres of fields, hiking trails, and forest. Like the Shakers before us, Darrow continues to value equality of all types, hard work, honesty, and service above self.
Over the years, hundreds of students have graduated from our Mountainside campus and gone on to successful careers in just about every field imaginable. One of our graduates has even walked on the moon—astronaut Charles (Pete) Conrad, Jr.' ('49) as a member of the Apollo 12 crew.
