Shattuck-Saint Mary's - History

History

On June 3, 1858, in a small rented building in Faribault, Minnesota, The Rev. Dr. James Lloyd Breck established the Episcopal mission school and seminary from which Shattuck-St. Mary's School has developed and prospered. When the school first opened, there were 45 young girls and boys and six divinity students, both Native American and white. About this time, the newly established Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota selected Henry Benjamin Whipple as its first Bishop. Bishop Whipple established his home in Faribault and, in 1860, took over the reins of the school, changing Breck's ambitious plan for "Bishop Seabury University" into something more realistic, namely "an honest school."

In 1864, when Seabury Hall was completed, the school moved to its present site on the bluffs above the Straight River. With this change, the institution became a boarding school for young men and boys. In 1865, Tommy Crump, an English divinity student recently returned from the Civil War, started the boys drilling with sticks, thus beginning a military program that would last for more than a century; during this time the campus was known as Shattuck Military Academy.

By 1866, more room was needed and largely through the efforts of Dr. George Cheyne Shattuck, Shattuck Hall was built specifically for the boys. Soon the grammar school itself became known as "Shattuck." That same year, Bishop Whipple opened a school for girls, St. Mary's Hall, in his home in downtown Faribault. The girls remained there until 1872 when the Bishop moved to a new house and St. Mary's Hall was turned over to a board of trustees. In 1872, the Chapel of the Good Shepherd was built through the generosity of Augusta Shumway of Chicago. Though she lost all her property in the great Chicago Fire, she kept her promise to build a chapel for "the Bishop's boys' school" by sending Whipple her insurance checks. With its rare all-stone spire, the chapel became the focal point of the Shattuck campus.

By 1883, St. Mary's had also outgrown its downtown facilities, and a grand, ornate building, often referred to as "the Castle on the Rhine," was built on the bluffs, less than a half mile south of Shattuck. That unique building burned in 1924, and the limestone structure that stands today was built less than a year later.

Both schools saw rapid growth during the next few years. Dr. James Dobbin, who had succeeded Dr. Breck in 1866 and who served as Rector of Shattuck School until 1914, was responsible for the construction of many beautiful limestone buildings, including the first Whipple Hall and the present Shumway Hall. In 1901, Dr. Dobbin founded St. James School for younger boys about a half mile north of Shattuck. In 1932, Seabury Theological Seminary merged with Western Theological Seminary and moved to Evanston, Illinois.

In 1972, the three schools, Shattuck, St. Mary's and St. James, were joined into what is known today as Shattuck-St. Mary's School. In 1974, the military program was discontinued, and the St. James campus was sold.

In 1988, the residential and academic programs were reconfigured so that the Middle School students (grades 6-8) were at the St. Mary's campus and the Upper School students (grades 9-12) were at the Shattuck campus.

In the early 1990s, facing serious financial concerns and declining enrollment, Craig Norwich was hired to save the school, a decision was made that would permanently change the course of the school. Craig was the visionary of the Shattuck model and is one of the main reasons for the success of the school. The school owned the only ice arena in Faribault and Craig decided to use that to its competitive advantage to create a world-class hockey program. This model, known as a 'center of excellence', has been expanded to include soccer, figure skating, the Center for Academic Achievement, and the Preconservatory Strings program. The School has grown 50% in the last 6 years, with students from 19 countries and 35 states. SSM's total enrollment in the 2009-2010 school year was 435.

In mid-2009 the Saint James campus was reacquired; it is currently being used for faculty housing and part of it is being rented out to the Cannon River Stem School for grades K-8.

In January 2011 the school broke ground for its STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) building.