The Tome School is a private school in North East in

Cecil County Cecil County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland at the northeastern corner of the state, bordering both Pennsylvania and Delaware. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 103,725. The county seat is Elkton. The ...

in the U.S. state of

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. Founded in 1894 by Jacob Tome, it is one of the oldest schools in Maryland. It enrolls grades K–12. As of September 2024, the Head of School is Jim Orndorff. The school was founded as the Tome School for Boys in nearby Port Deposit. That campus, now owned by the Bainbridge Development Corporation, is no longer in operation and is closed to the public. Since the 2010s, several of its buildings have been damaged or destroyed by vandals, and the company has installed security cameras and taken other measures to keep trespassers off the property. Classroom Burned

History

Port Deposit

In the early 1890s, Jacob Tome (1810–1898)—a wealthy railroad and timber magnate who had served in the Maryland State Senate—decided to open a nonsectarian college preparatory school for boys. He founded the Tome School for Boys on Main Street in

Port Deposit, Maryland Port Deposit is a town in Cecil County, Maryland, United States. It is located on the east bank of the Susquehanna River near its discharge into the Chesapeake Bay. The population was 653 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Geograph ...

, on the east bank of the

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River ( ; Unami language, Lenape: ) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, crossing three lower Northeastern United States, Northeast states (New York, Pennsylvani ...

. It opened for boarders and received its first students in 1894. It was part of a system of schools collectively known as the Jacob Tome Institute that began with

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

and extended through

high 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., ...

. Situated in the northeast corner of the state, the Tome School was immediately popular, attracting almost all the students from the town of Port Deposit and many from outside, throughout

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, and neighboring states. Tome left the school an endowment at his death in 1898. Under the direction of his widow, Evalyn N. Tome, the Board of Trustees hired

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

immigrant

James Cameron Mackenzie James Cameron Mackenzie (1852–1931) was an American educator and Presbyterian minister, born in Aberdeen, Scotland. Early life and education The son of Alexander and Catherine Mackenzie, he was born on August 15, 1852. He came to America when ...

(1852–1931) to direct the school. MacKenzie, one of the most important late 19th-century secondary school educators, proposed using the endowment to create a separate upper-level boarding school for boys. Two hundred acres on the bluff above the town and the broad and picturesque Susquehanna River were purchased for this purpose. MacKenzie in turn consulted with Robert Swain Peabody (1845–1917), of the prominent

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

architectural firm of Peabody & Stearns, concerning the design of the new Jacob Tome Institute. Following a design competition in 1900, supervised by Peabody, the Board of Trustees selected designs in the then-popular Beaux-arts architectural style by partner architects William Boring (1859–1937) and Edward Lippincott Tilton (1861–1933), co-designers of the U.S. immigration station at

Ellis Island Ellis Island is an island in New York Harbor, within the U.S. states of New Jersey and New York (state), New York. Owned by the U.S. government, Ellis Island was once the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United State ...

New York Harbor New York Harbor is a bay that covers all of the Upper Bay. It is at the mouth of the Hudson River near the East River tidal estuary on the East Coast of the United States. New York Harbor is generally synonymous with Upper New York Bay, ...

. Over the next five years, stone buildings were erected, using granite from local quarries. The tree-lined streets of the campus, which converged at the steps of Memorial Hall, were designed by landscape architect

Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822 – August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, Social criticism, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the U ...

(1822-1903), who had designed New York's

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

.A History of Maryland’s Lower Susquehanna Region
Olmsted selected

landscape architect A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water manage ...

Charles Wellford Leavitt Charles Wellford Leavitt Jr. (March 13, 1871 – April 22, 1928) was an American landscape architect, urban planner, and civil engineer who designed everything from elaborate gardens on Long Island, New York (state), New York and New Jersey es ...

(1871–1928) to design the school's gardens. By 1902, the school had more than a dozen buildings and an endowment of $2 million ($ today). Thirteen of these buildings survive, though some have been damaged or all but destroyed by fire: Memorial Hall, three dormitories (Jackson, Madison, and Harrison), the Chesapeake Inn dormitory and dining hall, the Director's residence, the Monroe Gymnasium, and six Master's cottages. Erika L. Quesenbery, author of ''United States Naval Training Center Bainbridge'', wrote that Memorial Hall was the school's "centerpiece". In the early 1900s, Tome played football annually against

Baltimore City College Baltimore City College, known colloquially as City, City College, and B.C.C., is a college preparatory school with a classical liberal arts focus and selective admissions criteria located in Baltimore, Maryland. Opened in October 1839, B.C.C ...

, the third-oldest public high school in America, founded 1839, and with an interscholastic football team program dating back to the 1880s and had several other schools and colleges on its schedule. The rivalry was fairly even. The City's Collegians beat Tome 5–0 in 1903 and 11–8 in 1904, but Tome won 32–0 in 1912 and 37–0 in 1915. Other rivalries also were versus the

Baltimore Polytechnic Institute The Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, colloquially referred to as BPI, Poly, and The Institute, is a US public high school founded in 1883. Established as an all-male manual trade / vocational high school by the Baltimore City Council and the ...

, the mathematics/science/technology public high school, established 1883 that was also City College's arch-rival. These were the few other public secondary schools, in addition to several other private or religious schools, institutes and academies in the region offering worthy sports and academic competition. In 1906, school director

Abram W. Harris Abram Winegardner Harris (November 7, 1858 – February 21, 1935) was an American academic, university president, and honor society founder. He the 8th president of Northwestern University, serving from 1906 to 1916. He was also the first preside ...

, along with

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

members on the Tome School faculty, organized Alpha Delta Tau fraternity, which later became the

Cum Laude Society The Cum Laude Society is an international organization that honors academic achievement at secondary institutions, similar to the Phi Beta Kappa, which honors academic achievements at the university level. History The Cum Laude Society was fo ...

. The school enjoyed a prestigious reputation for a number of years. Its students included R. J. Reynolds, Jr., a son of R. J. Reynolds; and children of the Mellon and Carnegie families.

United States Naval Training Center Bainbridge

After thriving for several decades, the Jacob Tome Institute fell into difficult financial straits during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

of the 1930s and closed in 1941. The following year, just after the United States entered

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 ...

, President

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

approved the acquisition by condemnation of the property and land from 70 surrounding farms for use by the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

as a training center. The institute's buildings were renovated for use by the Naval Academy Preparatory School to prepare future midshipmen for the

U.S. Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (USNA, Navy, or Annapolis) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy is the sec ...

further south at

Annapolis, Maryland Annapolis ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland. It is the county seat of Anne Arundel County and its only incorporated city. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east ...

. On October 1, 1942, United States Naval Training Center Bainbridge—named for early-19th-century naval hero

William Bainbridge Commodore William Bainbridge (May 7, 1774July 27, 1833) was a United States Navy officer. During his long career in the young American navy he served under six presidents beginning with John Adams and is notable for his many victories at sea. ...

—was activated. The training center operated through

, the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

, the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

, and the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

, graduating more than 500,000 recruits before it closed on March 31, 1976. From 1979 to 1991, the campus was occupied by the Susquehanna Job Corps Center. In 2000, the site was transferred to the

State of Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, which subsequently turned it over to the Bainbridge Development Corporation, a quasi-government corporation. Meanwhile, the Tome School moved back to its original site on Main Street in Port Deposit. In 1971, the Tome School moved to a new, hundred-acre campus in

North East, Maryland North East is a town in Cecil County, Maryland, United States. It is located between Philadelphia and Baltimore. The population was 3,572 at the 2010 census. The Turkey Point Light Station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places ...

. In 1984, the school property and buildings were listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

as a

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...

in 1984.

Damages

Several of the old Tome School for Boys campus buildings have been damaged or destroyed by arsonists and trespassers. On September 21, 2014, a fire damaged the old campus' Memorial Hall, destroying its clock tower. Only the granite structure remains. In 2018, a local newspaper wrote of the old campus that Van Buren, Madison, and Monroe Halls remain, while the headmaster's house "is badly vandalized but standing", and Jackson Hall "like Memorial Hall, is a burned-out hulk." In 2019, 11 people—all 15 to 18 years old—were spotted by the acting Port Deposit police chief on the property. They were subsequently arrested and charged with trespassing. On May 6, 2020, a fire burned the former Inn to the ground. The Bainbridge Development Corporation has since installed a security system that is "fully wireless and solar powered" with "cameras at key points on the property, monitoring 24/7." As of September 2022, the company was installing 100 "No Trespassing” signs.

Academics

The

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

school enrolls students from

through

twelfth grade Twelfth Grade (also known as Grade 12, Senior Year, Standard 12, 12th Standard, 12th Class, or Class 12th or Class 12) is the twelfth and final Educational stage, year of Formal education, formal or compulsory education. It is typically the final ...

. The

curriculum In education, a curriculum (; : curriculums or curricula ) is the totality of student experiences that occur in an educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view of the student's experi ...

provides a broad

liberal arts Liberal arts education () is a traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''skill, art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the fine arts. ''Liberal arts education'' can refe ...

education in an environment emphasizing academic success, high standards of personal behavior, and full participation in school life. The student body is divided among three schools: * Lower School (K-4). Students begin French and Spanish language study in

first grade First grade (also 1st Grade or Grade 1) is the first year of formal or compulsory education. It is the first year of elementary school, and the first school year after kindergarten. Children in first grade are usually 6–7 years old. Examples ...

. * Middle School (5-8). Students are required to take

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

study in the

seventh grade Seventh grade (also 7th Grade or Grade 7) is the seventh year of formal or compulsory education. The seventh grade is typically the first or second year of middle school. In the United States, kids in seventh grade are usually around 12–13 years ...

through eighth grade. * Upper School (9-12). Students concentrate on a traditional

college prep A college-preparatory school (often shortened to prep school, preparatory school, college prep school or college prep academy) is a type of secondary school. The term refers to public, private independent or parochial schools primarily design ...

academic program.

Extracurricular activities

*Varsity sports: basketball, soccer, lacrosse, cross country, tennis, volleyball, field hockey, softball, baseball, golf, and cheerleading. * Junior varsity sports: basketball, soccer, cross country, field hockey, volleyball, and tennis. * Organizations and clubs:

National Honor Society The National Honor Society (NHS) is one of the oldest, largest, and most widely recognized cocurricular student organizations in American high schools, with 1.4 million members. The purpose of the NHS is to create enthusiasm for scholarship, to ...

, Junior National Honor Society,

Key Club Key Club International, also called Key Club, is an international service organization for high school students. Key Club International is the high school branch of the Kiwanis International family, classified as a Service Leadership Program ...

, Builders Club, Middle School Chorus, Orchestra, Student Government, Chess Club, Environmental Club, Envirothon Team, and Student Literary Magazine.

Notable alumni, faculty, and staff

Abner Biberman Abner Warren Biberman (April 1, 1909 – June 20, 1977) was an American actor, director, and screenwriter. Ruthless-looking, he was in demand to portray a wide variety of heavies and foreign nationalities during the Golden Years of Hollywo ...

: actor, director, and screenwriter * Thomas Baker: president of Carnegie Institute of Technology * John B. Breckinridge:

Attorney General of Kentucky The attorney general of Kentucky is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state of Kentucky, created by the Kentucky Constitution (Ky.Const. § 91). Under Kentucky law, they serve several roles, including the state's chief prosecutor (KRS 15.700), ...

and U.S. Representative * Harry A. Cantwell (died 1972), physician and member of the

Maryland Senate The Maryland Senate, sometimes referred to as the Maryland State Senate, is the upper house of the General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland. Composed of 47 senators elected from an equal number of constituent single ...

* Forrest Craver: football head coach, director of sports * Kent Curtis: American novelist, illustrator, composer, yachtsman, and teacher * James Devereux: United States Marine Corps general,

Navy Cross The Navy Cross is the United States Naval Service's second-highest military decoration awarded for sailors and marines who distinguish themselves for extraordinary heroism in combat with an armed enemy force. The medal is equivalent to the Army ...

recipient, and U.S. Representative from Maryland * Eric P. Hamp: linguist * William S. James: Maryland state legislator and

Treasurer A treasurer is a person responsible for the financial operations of a government, business, or other organization. Government The treasury of a country is the department responsible for the country's economy, finance and revenue. The treasure ...

* Harry LeGore: American football and baseball player, Maryland state legislator and businessman * John H. Kimble (died 1938), treasurer of Tome School, member of the Maryland House of Delegates * Norman T. Kirk:

Surgeon General of the United States Army The Surgeon General of the United States Army is the senior-most officer of the U.S. Army Medical Department (AMEDD). By policy, the Surgeon General (TSG) serves as Commanding General, U.S. Army Medical Command (MEDCOM) as well as head of the ...

* Jim Meade: American football player and coach *

James Rouse James Wilson Rouse (April 26, 1914 – April 9, 1996) was an American businessman and founder of The Rouse Company. Rouse was a pioneering American real estate developer, urban planner, civic activist, and later, free enterprise-based philanthr ...

: founder of

The Rouse Company The Rouse Company was a publicly traded shopping mall and community developer from 1956 until 2004, when GGP Inc., General Growth Properties (GGP) purchased the company. It was founded by Hunter Moss and James Rouse, James W. Rouse in 1939. Begin ...

, attended for one year * Lansdale Sasscer: U.S. Representative from Maryland * Milward Simpson (1897–1993), class of 1917, U.S. Senator and as the 23rd Governor of Wyoming

References

External links

The Tome School

The Tome School parent reviews

Tome School High School Alumni @ Reunion

Tome School directions
- mapquest.com
Photos and History on eastghost.com
* , including photo from 1907, at Maryland Historical Trust website
Jacob Tome Institute, Tome Road, between Bainbridge Road & Route 276, Port Deposit vicinity, Cecil, MD
at the

Historic American Buildings Survey The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

(HABS), with additional material a

an

{{authority control Preparatory schools in Maryland Educational institutions established in 1894 School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Georgian Revival architecture in Maryland Colonial Revival architecture in Maryland School buildings completed in 1900 Edward Lippincott Tilton buildings Schools in Cecil County, Maryland Historic American Buildings Survey in Maryland Private K–12 schools in Maryland 1894 establishments in Maryland Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland National Register of Historic Places in Cecil County, Maryland