Manter Hall School
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Manter Hall School was a private prep school located in
Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...
that existed between 1884 and 1996. Founded in 1884 by William W. Nolen (Harvard, Class of 1884) as Nolen's Tutoring School, the original mission of the school was to tutor
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
undergraduates to prepare them for mid-term and final examinations. The curriculum expanded in the 1930s to include preparing students for Harvard's entrance exam. Manter Hall eventually evolved into an unorthodox prep school that prepared students who were unable to fit into traditional high schools and prep schools. Manter Hall's most famous alumni were Joseph P. Kennedy II (Class of 1971), a former Congressman, and
Tenley Albright Tenley Emma Albright (born July 18, 1935) is an American former figure skater and surgeon. She is the 1956 Olympic champion, the 1952 Olympic silver medalist, the 1953 and 1955 World Champion, the 1953 and 1955 North American champion, and ...
('58), the first American female skater to win an Olympic gold medal.


Tutoring Harvard undergrads

Tutoring Harvard undergrads was the school's primary mission for fifty years. Located in a building owned by Harvard, the school provided four- and eight-hour cram courses before midterms and final exams. Nolen died in 1924 and the school moved to Manter Hall, 67 Mt. Auburn Street changing its name to Manter Hall School, Inc. By 1932, the school was tutoring
secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...
students who had failed the Harvard entrance exam. The school also enabled Harvard applicants who were shy a few credits to make up those credits in order to qualify for entrance. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the school focused on helping aviation cadets pass Harvard's entrance exam. After the war, enrollment swelled to over 250 students, but class size had settled back to 60 by the 1950s. In that decade, it became a standard prep school offering instruction for grades nine through 12 and focused on special needs students.


Ownership

The school was managed by Robert G. Hall, who eventually became its owner, from 1936 until his death in 1996, after which the school was disbanded. Because of Hall's interest in
dyslexia Dyslexia (), previously known as word blindness, is a learning disability that affects either reading or writing. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, reading quickly, wri ...
, the school implemented a diagnostic reading test in the 1950s. He created Educator's Publishing Services, which published and distributed academic books. Before his death, Hall came to understand the unique educational opportunities Harvard Student Agencies (HSA) afforded to Harvard undergraduates and decided to sell the property to HSA in the spring of 1996. The building was dedicated as Burke-McCoy Hall on February 5, 1997, and became the permanent home for HSA the Let's Go travel guide series.


Student body

By 1975, the student body was down to 50. The school had a tradition for graduates by celebrating graduation at the Newton estate of an old classmate of Mr Hall. The celebration ended with the traditional valedictorian speech. Class sizes were from "four or five to a maximum of ten or twelve," according to owner Hall in a 1975 ''
Harvard Crimson The Harvard Crimson is the nickname of the college sports teams of Harvard College. The school's teams compete in NCAA Division I. As of 2013, there were 42 Division I intercollegiate Varsity team, varsity sports teams for women and men at Harva ...
'' interview, which enabled teachers to give students special attention. The building’s ground floor was leased to retail businesses, most notably Elsie’s delicatessen. Hall said approximately 50% of the student body were remedial students. A good portion of the student body was derived from Cambridge with the rest of the students from surrounding towns. The school had an international presence as well. The school did not advertise but relied on word of mouth. The school was traditionally run but had much focus on the individual children as they moved through the grades. The school did not have the capacity to offer sports or extracurricular activities but was smack in the middle of Harvard Square which provided its own sort of sport. Tenley Albright became the first girl at the school. The school enabled her to take classes scheduled around her training schedule. She went on to become a surgeon and her two daughters attended the school. By 1993, there were only 19 students. The last four seniors graduated in 1996.


Famous alumni

*
Tenley Albright Tenley Emma Albright (born July 18, 1935) is an American former figure skater and surgeon. She is the 1956 Olympic champion, the 1952 Olympic silver medalist, the 1953 and 1955 World Champion, the 1953 and 1955 North American champion, and ...
, 1958 * Joseph P. Kennedy II, 1971


References

{{Coord, 42.372, -71.1182, display=title Educational institutions established in 1884 Schools in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Defunct schools in Massachusetts 1884 establishments in Massachusetts