The Ellis School history

By 1939, enrollment had grown to more than 200 students, taught by a faculty of 27.

The original facilities on Ellsworth Avenue were cramped, and in 1947 the Ogden Edwards house at the corner of Fifth and South Negley Avenues, the Lazar house at 922 South Negley Avenue, and a vacant Lockhart property on Ivy Street were purchased.

By 1955, the year of Miss Tilley's retirement, there were temporary classrooms across the street at Third Presbyterian Church, at Hunt Armory, and the East Liberty YWCA.

The other house became the Lower School for the next 30 years, and 116 Lower School students moved into their quarters in late 1958, having walked hand-in-hand from the Edwards campus.

That construction did not require special fundraising; however, the facilities that had been wonderfully new in 1959 needed serious attention.

In 1961, the school was authorized to establish a chapter of the Cum Laude Society.

In 1962, Miss Sara Frazier Ellis died peacefully at home at the age of 87.

Moore, who served as headmistress until 1971.

After considerable research, much discussion, and exchanges with Shady Side Academy about a merger, in the fall of 1972 the board of trustees decided that Ellis would best meet its goals by remaining a single-sex school.

Responding to high inflation and the need to strengthen faculty and curriculum to meet the technological and social changes facing students, for the first time in its 60-year history, in 1975 Ellis embarked on an ambitious ten-year development program.

Miss Jacobs and the Board of Trustees recognized the importance of intellectual stimulation and refreshment for teachers and in 1977 instituted the Experimental Intellectual Program (EIP) to provide funds for courses, conferences, curriculum planning, and travel.

In 1980, the second phase of the program, Development II, was launched to assure the continuing quality of education at Ellis.

In 1984, to honor its founder, the EIP was renamed the Janet Jacobs Enrichment Program (JEP).

In 1985, the school introduced an extended daycare program for Lower School students and shortly thereafter it was expanded to include students from the middle school grades.

A delay in construction caused by lengthy negotiations with neighbors protesting that the School might encroach on their residential neighborhood and Miss Jacobs’ decision to retire in 1986 meant that the project she worked on so diligently would not be completed under her aegis.

In addition, there were monies to enhance the endowment, whose book value at the end of the 1987–88 school year had climbed to $5.3 million.

The Alice S. Beckwith Building, with its science lab, music room, and gym/activities room, was formally dedicated on April 15, 1988.

In 1990, the Ellis faculty started the Fifth Avenue Family Child Care Center, located in the basement of Arbuthnot House, to satisfy their needs for reliable, trustworthy, and competent child care.

Upon completion of a highly competitive and comprehensive national search, Doctor Mary H. Grant, former Assistant Head and Upper School Director at The Springside School in Philadelphia, began her tenure as Head of School on July 1, 2002.

Doctor Grant announced her retirement in 2008, and a national search produced Mrs.

Benedict began her tenure as Head of School in July of 2009.