Stockbridge School was a
progressive co-educational
boarding school
A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...
for adolescents near the Interlaken section of
Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Stockbridge is a town in Berkshire County in Western Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,018 at the 2020 census. A year-round resort area, Stockbridg ...
. It operated from 1948 to 1976.
History
The school was founded by the
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 ...
German refugee
Hans Maeder and his American wife Ruth, who paid $60,000 to acquire the 1,100-plus acres of the former
Gilded Age
In History of the United States, United States history, the Gilded Age is the period from about the late 1870s to the late 1890s, which occurred between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was named by 1920s historians after Mar ...
estate of Daniel Rhodes Hanna, son of
Mark Hanna
Marcus Alonzo Hanna (September 24, 1837 – February 15, 1904) was an American businessman and Republican politician who served as a United States Senator from Ohio as well as chairman of the Republican National Committee. A friend and ...
, businessman and politician. Maeder was a socialist and the couple wanted to establish a school based on egalitarian principles.
At the time of the Maeders' purchase, the property contained 18 buildings and 2,500 feet (760 m) of frontage on the lake known as
Stockbridge Bowl. The property had previously been named Bonnie Brier Farm. The Maeders' purchase occurred shortly after the failure of
Liberal Arts, Inc. to establish a
Great Books
A classic is a book accepted as being exemplary or particularly noteworthy. What makes a book "classic" is a concern that has occurred to various authors ranging from Italo Calvino to Mark Twain and the related questions of "Why Read the Cl ...
-based college associated with
St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland, on the same site.
Only a portion of this extensive, largely forested property, which ranged from the summit of West Stockbridge Mountain to the shore of the Stockbridge Bowl, was developed as the school campus. The Maeders retained title to the remainder of the land at the time of their purchase. Following the school's closure, some of this other property was subdivided for residential development.
Program
The school was unusual for being
racially integrated from its inception, as well as for Maeder's successful efforts to recruit an international student body during a period in which many similar schools were comparatively insular and ethnically exclusive.
[
Beginning in 1948, three years after the ]United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
was established, the school flew the United Nations flag just below the United States flag
The national flag of the United States, often referred to as the American flag or the U.S. flag, consists of thirteen horizontal Bar (heraldry), stripes, Variation of the field, alternating red and white, with a blue rectangle in the Canton ( ...
.[ The credo of the school was stated on a plaque installed at the entrance to a new classroom building in the mid-1950s, "All Men are created equal in dignity and rights".
For some years, the curriculum included a junior year abroad, and Stockbridge briefly operated a branch in Corcelles, Bern, Switzerland. Maeder was a ]socialist
Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
[ and had egalitarian aspirations, but his school also attracted numerous students from wealthy New York area families. Maeder did a significant amount of student recruitment from an apartment he maintained in ]midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan, serving as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Building, the ...
.
Six days per week, students, whose number never exceeded about 200, were required to assemble after breakfast and listen to 20 minutes of recorded music.[ Selections were mostly European romantic and classical music, chosen by a very limited number of faculty, who provided brief commentary. On Saturdays, selections were chosen by a student, and were typically popular music.
For a brief period in the 1970s immediately following Maeder's retirement in 1971, and during the directorship of Thomas Newman, the Berkshire Folk Society performed monthly on winter evenings. During this period, visiting artists included Malcolm Cecil, as well as both ]Joseph Jarman
Joseph Jarman (September 14, 1937 – January 9, 2019) was an American jazz musician, composer, poet, and Shinshu Buddhist priest. He was one of the first members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and a member of the ...
of the Art Ensemble of Chicago
The Art Ensemble of Chicago is an avant-garde jazz group that grew out of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, AACM) in the late 1960s. The ensemble integrates many jaz ...
and Richard Abrams, each noted for their early connection with the Chicago-based Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians
The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) is an American nonprofit organization, founded in 1965 in Chicago by pianist Muhal Richard Abrams, pianist Jodie Christian, drummer Steve McCall, and composer Phil Cohran. The AA ...
.
Throughout the school's history, there were frequent gatherings of the student body modeled on the New England town meeting
Town meeting, also known as an "open town meeting", is a form of local government in which eligible town residents can directly participate in an assembly which determines the governance of their town. Unlike representative town meeting where ...
, during which open discussions were held, and votes taken on matters of interest. The school director held veto
A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president (government title), president or monarch vetoes a bill (law), bill to stop it from becoming statutory law, law. In many countries, veto powe ...
power over decisions.[
Esther Newton, a future anthropologist, had attended the school in 1957. She later wrote in her memoir about the experience: "Stockbridge School was also used as a sort of 'holding tank' for teenagers who, for one reason or another, were living in an unsympathetic environment at home and whose parents could afford to send them away to school. Much of the revenue used to pay for the school came from this source".
]
Demise
Maeder retired as headmaster of Stockbridge in 1971, and was followed in relatively quick succession by headmasters Thomas Newman and Richard Nurse. The school closed in 1976 largely due to difficult U.S. demographic and economic trends of the era, which resulted in declining enrollment and debt, and the shut-down of many small boarding schools in New England. In the introduction to Gunter Nabel's "A Fight For Human Rights - Documents of The Stockbridge School," alumnus Benjamin Barber
Benjamin R. Barber (August 2, 1939 – April 24, 2017) was an American political theorist and author, perhaps best known for his 1995 bestseller, '' Jihad vs. McWorld'', and for 2013's ''If Mayors Ruled the World''. His 1984 book of political ...
is quoted as proposing an additional hypothesis for the school's demise: the then-radical ideals upon which the school was founded in the 1940s, notably racially integrated coeducation, had become mainstream by the 1970s. The school had fulfilled its founder's goals, and therefore was no longer needed.
The campus later became the site of the DeSisto School, an unrelated organization, also now defunct. In April 2009 the DeSisto parcel was sold at auction to Sheehan Health Group (a nursing home
A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of older people, senior citizens, or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as care homes, skilled nursing facilities (SNF), or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms ...
concern) for about $1.35 million, while extensive areas to the north and south of the former campus that were previously held by the Maeder family as forest and meadows had been subject to residential subdivision and development.
Alumni and former staff
The alumnus most closely associated with Stockbridge School is Arlo Guthrie
Arlo Davy Guthrie (born July 10, 1947) is an American folk music, folk singer-songwriter. He is known for singing protest song, songs of protest against social injustice, and storytelling while performing songs, following the tradition of his fa ...
, whose arrest for littering by Stockbridge police shortly after graduation in 1965 inspired the song "Alice's Restaurant
"Alice's Restaurant Massacree", commonly known as "Alice's Restaurant", is a satirical talking blues song by singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie, released as the title track to his 1967 debut album Alice's Restaurant (album), ''Alice's Restaurant''. ...
". Alice Brock had been the school librarian before opening a lunch counter in Stockbridge. Ray Brock, husband of Alice, was a shop teacher at the school.
Other notable alumni include comedian Chevy Chase
Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase (; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He became the breakout cast member in the first season of ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1976), where his recurring ''Weekend Update'' segment b ...
,[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=M9oVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ARMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2217,6446264&dq=stockbridge+school&hl=en The Milwaukee Sentinel - Aug 25, 1993] physician Kenneth C. Edelin (who later taught at the school), and political theorist Benjamin Barber
Benjamin R. Barber (August 2, 1939 – April 24, 2017) was an American political theorist and author, perhaps best known for his 1995 bestseller, '' Jihad vs. McWorld'', and for 2013's ''If Mayors Ruled the World''. His 1984 book of political ...
.[Global Thinker Benjamin Barber's Ideas on Capitalism and Conflict No Longer Seem So Academic]
, ''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'', November 6, 2001. Retrieved from Benjamin Barber's website, September 24, 2010.
References
External links and sources
''NY Times''
September 11, 1988
''Teacher Education Quarterly''
Summer, 2001
Stockbridge School Web site "Stories" page; introduction to Gunter Nabel's "A Fight For Human Rights - Documents of The Stockbridge School."
Han Maeder Video 1974
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Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Boarding schools in Massachusetts
Defunct schools in Massachusetts
Educational institutions established in 1948
Educational institutions disestablished in 1976
Schools in Berkshire County, Massachusetts
1948 establishments in Massachusetts
1976 disestablishments in Massachusetts