History
The Gow School has its roots in the early teaching experience of founder Peter Gow Jr., who as an instructor at Choate Rosemary Hall, Nichols School, and The Park School of Buffalo had become interested in the plight of students who, though clearly intellectually able, struggled with certain aspects of learning in the language domain, especially spelling and reading. After contacting Dr. Samuel T. Orton, a noted New York physician who had done pioneering work in the area of dyslexia, Gow began development of the Reconstructive Language methodology that has been the backbone of the Gow School program since its founding.
For several years Gow held a summer school for selected students on property he had purchased in South Wales, and in 1926 he took the risk of starting a boarding school for a handful of boys. Over the years the school grew, although a school of small size and intimate, structured community was felt by Gow to be an ideal environment for the remediation of dyslexia and the development of habits of mind that would help students compensate for their language difficulties.
After Gow died in 1958, Norman W. Howard became headmaster, serving until the early 1980s. During the period of Howard's headship the school passed from proprietary ownership by Howard and David W. Gow, the founder's son, into the control of a board of trustees as a non-profit institution. A program of campus development was begun with the construction of the Isaac Arnold Library, named for the school's first board chair.
With Norman Howard's retirement, David W. Gow became headmaster. During the period of his leadership, a vigorous building and academic development program was undertaken, with the school growing from about 116 students to over 150. A new gymnasium, study hall-classroom building, and dormitory were completed before Gow's retirement in 1991. David Gow remained active in the school community until his death on December 19, 2011.
Under the next headmasters, J. William Adams and William Patterson, campus development continued with the construction of Warner House, a new dormitory with two faculty residences, and The Gow Center, a gymnasium and recreational complex. At the same time, the school continued the acquisition of land in South Wales that had begun under David Gow.
In 2004, M. Bradley Rogers became the school's sixth headmaster. In his first years as the school's leader, such notable developments occurred as the transformation of the original gymnasium into the state-of-the-art George Reid Art Center. The school's educational reach has continued to grow, with the school welcoming a growing population of international students as well as the traditional contingent of students from throughout North America.
The Gow School continues to be preeminent as a college preparatory school for dyslexic boys. Its methods, still based on the work of Peter Gow Jr. and Dr. Samuel T. Orton, remain highly regarded among educators in the field of reading and literacy.
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