Park Tudor School - History

History

Park Tudor is the product of a merger of two single-sex independent schools, Tudor Hall School for Girls and Park School.

Tudor Hall School for Girls was established in 1902 by Miss Fredonia Allen and The Reverend James Cumming Smith. Miss Allen named the school after her mother, Ann Tudor Allen. The school was originally located at 16th and Meridian streets in Indianapolis. It later moved to a two-building campus at 32nd and Meridian Streets where it remained for several decades. In 1960, Tudor Hall moved to the spacious Charles B. Sommers estate on Cold Spring Road, next to Park School. In addition to the day school program, it fostered a significant boarding program with a dormitory on the second North Meridian campus. After the 1970 merger with Park School, Tudor Hall was consolidated with Park School into the College Avenue campus.

Park School, began in 1914 as The Brooks School for Boys. In 1920, seven Indianapolis businessmen purchased the school to save it from financial problems and renamed it Boys Preparatory School. The school was originally located at 16th Street and Central Avenue before moving to the former Carl Fisher estate on Cold Spring Road which now serves as a portion of Marian University. The name was changed to Park School in 1929 to reflect the park-like atmosphere of the Cold Spring campus. The school finally moved to the current Park Tudor campus at 7200 North College Avenue.

Both Park School and Tudor Hall were founded to provide the same college preparatory education as was often found in the eastern states of the United States. The schools each earned a respected national reputation, often earning its graduates automatic admission to many of the country's top-tier colleges and universities. Because the two schools were often geographically located near each other, and as families also often sent their children to both schools, Park School and Tudor Hall developed a close association. Dances, dramatic performances, and other activities were often arranged jointly.

During the mid-1960s, Tudor Hall began to eliminate its lower grades while Park School began to admit girls to its Lower School. The two schools then merged in 1970 to form Park-Tudor School at the College Avenue campus. The hyphen was removed from the name by 1981. The property had been donated by Eli Lilly and his brother Josiah K. Lilly Jr. It had previously served as a family retreat and apple orchard known as Lilly Orchard. Apple cider, apples, and other similar products are still sold at the campus each autumn. The campus plan and buildings were largely designed by noted Indianapolis architect, H. Roll McLaughlin.

The merged school initially planned to continue Tudor Hall's respected boarding school program. However, citing the diminished enrollment in its program as well as those across the country, the plan was dropped. The school's official crest borrows a crown, which formed Tudor's crest, and a shield-with-tree from Park. Likewise, colors for the merged school became Red and White. Park's colors had been Red and Black while Tudor used Green and White. More recently, the color black has been re-introduced. The yearbook's name, Chronicle, continued that of Tudor Hall's. The Park School newspaper, The Red and Black, was changed to The Apple Press.

Major buildings on the campus include the historic Foster Hall (named after composer Stephen Foster by Foster enthusiast/collector Eli Lilly Jr.), Allen W. Clowes Commons dining hall (1967), Frederic M. Ayres Auditorium (1976), Jane Holton Upper School (1970), Middle School (1988), Lower School (1967), Hilbert Early Education Center (1997), Fine Arts Building (1976), Ruth Lilly Science Center (1989), and the gymnasium complex.