Moses Brown School

Moses Brown School is a Quaker school located in Providence, Rhode Island, offering pre-kindergarten through secondary school classes. It was founded in 1784 by Moses Brown, a Quaker abolitionist, and is the 69th oldest preparatory school in the country.[2] The school motto is Verum Honorem, "For The Honor of Truth," and the school song is "In the Shadow of the Elms," a reference to the large grove of elm trees that still surrounds the school.[3]

Moses Brown School
Address
250 Lloyd Avenue

Providence
,
Rhode Island

United States
Coordinates41°49′59.2″N 71°23′54.36″W
Information
TypePrivate
MottoVerum Honorem (For The Honor of Truth)
Religious affiliation(s)Quaker
Established1784 (1784)
Head of schoolMatt Glendinning
Faculty216
Enrollment771 total
Average class size13 students
Student to teacher ratio8:1
CampusUrban, 33 acres (130,000 m2)
Color(s)White and Navy Blue    
Athletics30 sports
MascotQuaker
Websitewww.mosesbrown.org
Moses Brown School
Location250 Lloyd Avenue
Providence, Rhode Island
Area30 acres (12 ha)
Built1819
ArchitectGreene, John Holden; Brown, Joseph
Architectural styleColonial Revival, Second Empire
NRHP reference No.80000088[1]
Added to NRHPJuly 24, 1980

Founder
Moses Brown

Moses Brown (1738–1836), the school's founder, was a member of the Brown family, a powerful mercantile family of New England. Brown was a pioneering advocate of abolition of slavery, co-founded Brown University, and an industrialist.

History
First meeting place of the school from 1784–1788

In 1777 a committee of New England Yearly Meeting which included Brown, took up the idea for a school to educate young Quakers in New England. The school opened in 1784 at Portsmouth Friends Meeting House in Portsmouth on Aquidneck Island, However, in the years after the American Revolution there was a shortage of student and teachers. Four years later the Yearly Meeting decided to close the school.

During those years, Moses Brown worked to restart the school, and, as treasurer of the school fund, was able to convince the Yearly Meeting to reopen the school – in part by donating the land in Providence for the school to be built on.

Main building in Providence

The school reopened in 1819 in Providence. Moses Brown joined with his son Obadiah and his son-in-law William Almy to pay for the construction of the first building, which still serves as the main building of the school. Obadiah Brown also left $100,000 (equivalent to $1.67 million in 2019) in his will to the school, a sum unheard of at the time for a school endowment or gift. In 1904 the school was renamed "Moses Brown School" to honor its benefactor and advocate. It offered an "upper" and "lower" school for "younger boys".[4]

As the Quakers were early advocates of gender equality, Moses Brown School was a co-educational school. However, in 1926 it became a boys-only school as was the fashion in U.S. society at the time. As attitudes again became more liberal, it again became coed in 1976. Well-known faculty over the years included the twin Quaker educators Alfred and Albert Smiley in the mid-Nineteenth Century[5] and noted children's author Scott Corbett in the 1960s. "Moses Brown School: A History of its Third Half-Century" by Bill Paxton, covers the school's history during the period 1919–1969.[6]

As of 2013 the school was owned by New England Yearly Meeting, with its own Board of Overseers, and operated independently of the yearly meeting. The school was examining the possibility of changing its specific affiliation while still retaining its identity as a Quaker school.

Academics

Ninth and tenth grade students are offered limited flexibility in their courses, aiming to expose them to a varied selection of topics. English is the only subject mandated through four years in the Upper School. Students must take calculus in order to satisfy their mathematics requirement, study a single language for three years, and lab sciences for two. There is a requirement for a comparative religions class. Students are also required to take a minimum of two semesters of fine art courses. Students are required to participate in varied school activities whether athletic, theater, dance or community service.[3]

The school briefly made headlines during the January 2015 nor'easter when Headmaster Matt Glendinning released a music video called "School Is Closed", in which he parodied "Let It Go" from Frozen.[7]

Facilities

Moses Brown School is located on 33 acres (130,000 m2) on Providence's East Side.

  • Collis Science Center – Upper School science complex on the ground floor of Friends Hall.
  • Dwares Family Student Center
  • Hoffman House and Lubrano Science Classroom
  • Fischer Ricci Family Instrumental Music Center
  • Waughtel-Howe Field House
  • Gorgi Family Squash and Education Center
  • Campanella Field
  • Milot Field – Athletic fields belonging to Moses Brown School in Rehoboth, Massachusetts.
  • Woodman Center – performing arts facility, connected to the current library by a sky bridge.
Panoramic view of the Moses Brown School main building

Alumni

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. "History". Moses Brown School. Archived from the original on 2 November 2005. Retrieved 28 Nov 2016 – via web.archive.org.
  3. "MB at-a-glance". mosesbrown.org. Moses Brown School. Retrieved 29 Nov 2016.
  4. "Moses Brown School". The Independent. New York City. 6 Jul 1914. Retrieved 29 Nov 2016.
  5. Tyler, Betty (21 Mar 2009). "Smiley twins: the early years". Redlands Daily Facts. Redlands, California: Digital First Media. Retrieved 29 Nov 2016.
  6. "Moses Brown School;: A history of its third half-century, 1919–1969". amazon.com. Retrieved 29 Nov 2016.
  7. "Rhode Island School Parodies 'Let It Go' In Elsa-Fied Snow Day Announcement". Huffington Post. 27 January 2015.
  8. Barry, Dan (2016-01-29). "Vincent A. Cianci Jr., Celebrated and Scorned Ex-Mayor of Providence, R.I., Dies at 74 (Published 2016)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-01-27.
  9. "MB Cupola fall 2014 / winter 2015: Design Thinking". Issuu. Moses Brown School. Fall 2014. p. 19. Retrieved 2021-01-27.
  10. Hamburger, Ellis (2014-11-05). "The future of books is on your phone, not your tablet". The Verge. Retrieved 2021-01-27.
  11. Pina, Tatiana (October 18, 2013). "Alum gives Moses Brown $5 million for performing-arts, community center". Proividence Journal. LMG Rhode Island Holdings, Inc. Archived from the original on 2014-10-06. Retrieved 2021-01-27.
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