Menlo School - History

History

Founded in 1915, Menlo School originated as the William Warren School, an all-male military school with an inaugural enrollment of just 13 boys. In 1924, Mr. Warren, headmaster and founder, sold the school to a group of interested parents. The parents dropped the military focus and formed a new corporation, and hence the Menlo School for Boys was born.

Three years later, in 1927, Menlo became a non-profit governed by a newly created board of trustees. Moreover, the original two-year junior college, Menlo College, was fashioned in that year as an intended expansion of the Menlo School for Boys. During its early decades, this expansion hybridized a prep school with a junior college. Students would attend Menlo for the latter two years of high school and then enroll for two years at the college; after graduating, students would transfer directly into four-year universities as upper-division students.

Since the late 1970s, Menlo has undergone a radical transformation. In the fall of 1979, Menlo School began its transition from an exclusively male institution with a small boarding program to a coeducational day school. In the 1993–1994 academic year, Menlo again took steps to ensure its future, dramatically increasing the Upper School’s enrollment, adding grade 6 to the Middle School, and further expanding its female enrollment.

The College and School formally split on June 30, 1994. Menlo School and Menlo College now are wholly independent entities, complete with their own boards, administrations and faculty. Although the School and College neighbor one another on the same 62-acre (250,000 m2) campus, the Menlo Upper School and Menlo Middle School are now highly segregated from their college counterpart. In 2008, the School and College entered into another separation agreement to further finalize their split, which included the formal legal subdivision of their single parcel of land into two separate parcels. The only portion of the campus that will continue to be jointly owned and managed is the Menlo Athletic Quad, consisting of the athletic fields and track.

Following a fundraising effort beginning in the late 1990s, both the middle and upper school campuses have been completely rebuilt. These projects were completed in 1999 and 2004, respectively. The campus includes state-of-the art science laboratories, a dedicated college counseling facility, office suites for faculty, a large lecture hall, library, student café, Smart Boards and Astroturf, among many other features. A new Athletic Center and gymnasium is completed as of August 2010. A new Creative Arts Center is also in final fundraising, with a projected completion date in the summer of 2012. Upon completing the new Athletic Center and a planned Performing Arts Center, the School will cease using the College's gym and performing arts facility under the separation agreement.