The Stony Brook School - History

History

In 1906, a prominent group of Presbyterian ministers and laymen began an enterprise to form an annual series of summer Bible conferences in the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. These conferences were to be in the tradition of other Bible conferences already established at Chautauqua, NY, Winona Lake, IN, and Northfield, MA. The group was led by the Rev. John Fleming Carson, pastor of the former Central Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn and later Moderator of the Presbyterian General Assembly (1911). After having visited the hamlet of Stony Brook in 1907, Carson and his associates settled on a location directly across from the train station. The first summer conference of the Stony Brook Assembly began on July 3, 1909 and was an immediate success due to its natural beauty and close proximity to the New York metropolitan area, which had an estimated population of 10 million people at the time. The Stony Brook Assembly was formally incorporated by the state of New York in 1914.

Carson's vision also included the establishment of a boys' school which could use the Assembly grounds outside of the summer months. As early as 1916, formal plans were being considered for opening the school, but financial constraints and World War I postponed the opening of the school until the fall of 1922. On September 13, The Stony Brook School was inaugurated with 27 boys and 9 faculty. Founding headmaster Frank E. Gaebelein called the new school an "experiment" in Christian education and set the mission for the school as being a rigorous college preparatory school thoroughly rooted in the Christian tradition. Education was not merely an emphasis on strong academics for the education of the mind, but more importantly was an emphasis on building character for the education of the heart - a distinction he linked with an adherence to the gospel. In his report to the Board in November 1937, Gaebelein reaffirmed the purpose of the school stating, “It was never the aim of Dr. Carson and the other founders, however, simply to inaugurate one more college preparatory school. Stony Brook’s prime reason for existence has been to bring its into vital contact with the Christian faith.”

The academic reputation of the school quickly grew in prominence. In May 1923, it was granted a charter by the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York, a high distinction for such a young school. In 1928, the school was accredited by the prestigious Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. In 1930, SBS was granted a charter by the Cum Laude Society, placing it among the first sixty schools granted this distinction since 1906. In 1931, the Director of Admissions at Princeton University indicated that the admissions committee was so impressed with the caliber of Bible study at Stony Brook that it would award one Carnegie Unit of preparation for college.

In the fall of 1971, a group of thirty day-student girls entered the school, beginning the school's move toward co-education. The following year, female boarding commenced.

In honor of the school's fiftieth anniversary in 1972, long-time faculty member and writer D. Bruce Lockerbie penned a history of the school entitled, The Way They Should Go.

In the past two decades, new and upgraded facilities which have included three new residence halls, a stadium, an all-weather track, and a baseball field, as well six major renovations all totalling over $10,000,000, have raised the caliber of academics, athletics, and community life - the capstone of which will be the completion of a new dining hall and student center.