Concord Academy history

Aloian was born in 1928 and grew up speaking Armenian at home and learning English in the public schools of Niagara Falls.

But in 1930, she interrupted her academic career to marry Livingston Hall—who would later become a professor at Harvard Law School—and to raise their four children.

On her retirement to New Ipswich, New Hampshire, in 1937, trustees honored her by naming #72 Main Street “Hobson House.”

She hired the first male faculty member in 1942, a music teacher, and continued Miss Hobson’s attention to faculty welfare by urging the adoption of a bona fide retirement plan, TIAA-CREF, which the school still uses.

Born in 1947 in New York City, Wilcox attended the Wooster School in Danbury, Connecticut, and earned an A.B. in Political Science from Colorado College.

He began his teaching career at the Fenn School in Concord, where he met his future wife, Mimi Frankenberg, a 1948 graduate of Concord Academy.

Not until the administration of Elizabeth Hall (1949–63) did Concord Academy grow markedly in size and achieve national stature.

Dresden came to the United States in 1950 at the age of six, when he emigrated with his parents from the Netherlands.

In 1951, she was named headmistress of Winsor, a position she held for twelve years before retiring.

On June 27, 1956, Bill Eddy, a member of the English department, and his wife Beryl left for NH. They were the first to set up camp and begin disassembling the meeting house by hand, sleeping in mosquito netting and tents, and washing in a nearby swimming hole.

The work of construction was carried out by students during the winter of 1960-61.

Following her departure in 1963, Mrs.

To house the new head and his family, trustees purchased 58 Main Street, now known as Lee House, which was renovated and ready for habitation in 1964.

In 1968, the school began to reflect social changes affecting the entire country.

During the 1970-71 year, he accepted the headship of Belmont Hill, a position he held for seven years before moving to Harvard.

In 1976, he moved to Boston, where he launched a new boarding schools program for the National Association of Independent Schools in a successful effort to reach under-represented families unaware of such opportunities.

Doctor Philip Frick McKean was appointed Concord Academy’s seventh head in March 1977, while Academic Dean Jane Scarborough was serving as the interim leader of the school.

After earning a B.A. in politics and government from the University of New Hampshire in 1978, Hardy received a master’s in creative writing from Brown University, where he also served as a teaching fellow.

By the summer of 1980, Doctor McKean and the trustees arrived at a mutual agreement that a different style of leadership would be needed to guide the school into the new decade.

His teaching and administrative career at Milton Academy began in 1983 and lasted just under 26 years, during which he also served as a coach and a house parent.

There, he served as executive director of the Alumni Association and master of Quincy House until his death in 1986.

By the time of Wilcox’s departure in 2000, Concord Academy’s endowment had grown from $900,000 to $30 million and its stature as a leading boarding and day school was undisputed.

When classes began on September 11, 2002, Mr.

In 2003, Jake Dresden, then head of school, began the careful process of renovating and expanding the chapel with Don Kingman, director of operations, so that it could accommodate the school of today.

The renovation began in June, 2004, and the chapel was re-opened on October 12.

Deborah McKean was ordained as an Episcopal minister in 2007.

The result, approved in 2014, is the Centennial Plan: Create + Innovate.