The Calhoun School history

A course of study covering nine grades was arranged, teachers were chosen, and the public school, at that time the town’s most ambitious venture, was inaugurated in September 1902, with an enrollment of 155 students.

In 1916, Laura Jacobi chose Mary Edwards Calhoun to succeed her as headmistress.

The school's reputation received national recognition in 1917 when a nationally known sociologist cited the Calhoun School as highly effective in character development, using industrial and agricultural training fitted to the needs of the community.

1918 — Jacobi/Calhoun school song written by Edith Mendel Stern '18.

Ella Cannon, a former employee with the National Women's Suffrage Publishing Company, was hired to teach economics and, in 1923, was named co-headmistress.

The school was renamed after its beloved headmistress, Mary Calhoun, in 1924.

Fifteen years later, in 1932, Charlotte Thorn, Calhoun's principal of more than forty years, died at age seventy-five.

1 Charles William Dabney, Universal Education in the South (2 vols., Chapel Hill, 1936), I, 447.

Discontinued in 1937, the opening of the Lower School (under direction of Wilhelmina Kraber) marked the first time in 21 years that Calhoun once again offered classes for pre-K through 12th grade.

In 1939, Miss Calhoun incorporated the school as a non-profit institution.

1942 — Ella Cannon Levis appointed Headmistress.

1946 — Elizabeth Parmelee and Beatrice Cosmey appointed Co-Headmistresses.

1958 — Calhoun reopens coeducational Lower School.

1963 — First Spring Fair (now Carnival) is sponsored by the Parents Association.

In 1973, The Calhoun School appointed Eugene Ruth as Head of School and broke ground on its innovative, open floor plan facility on West End Avenue.

44 James Sheire to Milo B. Howard, Jr., May 22, 1975, The Calhoun Colored School: Nomination Form for National Register of Historic Places, Lowndes County Folder, Alabama State Department of Archives and History, Montgomery.

1980 — Doctor Neen Hunt appointed Head of School.

39 Personal interview with Rogers Smith in Calhoun, July 29, 1982.

1984 — Calhoun becomes one of the first NYC schools to require community service for graduation.

1986 — Edward E. Ford Foundation Grant awards the school a Minority Scholarship Fund, in recognition of Calhoun's aggressive program to promote diversity among its student body.

1989 — Opening of the Robert L. Beir Lower School building on West 74th Street for preschool through first grade meets expanding enrollment needs.

1990 — Edward E. Ford Foundation Grant is awarded the school for its Professional Development Program for faculty.

1991 — Dedication of the new Neen Hunt Library at the 81st Street building

1994 — DeWitt-Wallace Readers Digest Fund Grant awarded to Calhoun--one of the first NYC independent schools to be awarded a grant as part of this fund's Independent School Opportunity Program.

1995 — Calhoun's Forensics Team wins six team sweepstakes awards in the New York Catholic Forensics League.

1996/97 — Calhoun celebrates its Centennial.

1999 — Calhoun announces major building campaign to expand 81st St site.

2001 — Calhoun purchases adjacent ("Jagger") townhouse, 304 W. 81st St, for use as administration building.

2002/03 — Chef Bobo hired to revamp the school's lunch program, developing Calhoun's Eat Right Now approach to healthier eating.

2003 — E.E. Ford Foundation awards $50,000 matching grant towards creation of Calhoun's Green Roof Learning Center.

2004 – Calhoun's Mary Lea Johnson Performing Arts Center is dedicated with a Gala Benefit and Festival of Arts in October 2004; yearly Performing Arts Series, all open to the public, features music, dance, children's theater and town hall meetings.

2005 – Calhoun's Green Roof Learning Center opens with ribbon-cutting ceremony.

2007 – Townhouse renovated; all administrative offices move in as of September.

2008 – Neen Hunt Library at 81st Street renovated and expanded.

2009 — Calhoun helps found the Independent Curriculum Group (ICG), a national consortium of independent and public schools promoting alternatives to Advanced Placement.

2010 — Calhoun adopts 6-day block schedule, and Upper School goes to 5-mod schedule.

2011 — Calhoun and 3 partner schools win $500,000 Edward E. Ford Foundation Leadership Grant for PEL program, a multi-site lab school for teacher-training.

2012 — Calhoun is awarded a $243,063 Grant by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to produce a national, 3-part multimedia educational project, "What Kids of Color Know & White Kids Don't – Deconstructing Racism."

The Calhoun Online Learning Academy (COLA) was established in the summer of 2013 and is currently in its eighth year as a thriving academic extension of Calhoun City Schools.

2014 — Calhoun breaks ground at 81st Street for a renovation that expands the footprint of the first floor, to accommodate the new Calhoun Commons–a multipurpose space for lunch/food service as well as community gatherings and events.

2016 — 19 for 19 Campaign launches, to raise $19 million for the school's endowment and annual operations.