Allendale Columbia School history

In 1926, a group of Rochester businessmen and other interested individuals founded the Allendale School for Boys on a 24-acre site on Allens Creek Road.

In 1951, the Democrat and Chronicle’s Henry Clune reflected upon the relatively short lifespan here of private elementary and high schools.

On Thanksgiving evening 1966, a fire destroyed all the original buildings on the Allendale campus.

In 1982, the school adopted a Long Range Plan, setting lofty programmatic and financial goals, many of which were met in the following years.

The year 2000 saw the successful conclusion of a three-year endowment campaign, Educating for Excellence, which added five million dollars to the School’s already strong endowment fund, for the particular purpose of supporting faculty compensation.

Now a resident of Pittsford, she received the New York state Senate’s Woman of Distinction Award in 2008 in recognition of her many community efforts that also include working with the Women’s Coalition for Downtown, Historic Brighton and the Greater Rochester United Way.

Gee, who came to Allendale Columbia in 2012, brings an outsider’s perspective to the school, as he grew up in the United Kingdom.

In 2015, the school established its Centers for Impact, which include the Center for Global Engagement, the Center for Entrepreneurship, and the Invent Center for STEM & Innovation.