Celebrating 75 Years

St. John's opened its doors on September 27, 1946 with an enrollment of roughly 324 students. The School had to overcome many obstacles in order to accomplish its founding in the post-WWII era. As stated in the School's history book, Faith and Virtue, by the beginning of 1946 "there was no charter, no funding, no physical plant, no staffing, and no school; but there were many promises and much enthusiasm." The opening day of school took place on a muddy construction where the building that is now known as Farish Hall was still being built. The determination and commitment shown by the School's founders and founding headmaster Alan L. Chidsey are the reason St. John's prevailed.

The history book explains, "The demonstration of perseverance over adversity may in fact have been the most valuable lesson of all for those first students in the fall of 1946... No doubt many people argued that a school couldn't possibly be conceived in December and opened in September. Clearly such skeptics had never encountered people like Chidsey, his colleagues, and the founders. By the summer of 1946, Farish Hall was rising from the briar patch, a curriculum had been hammered out, students were enrolling... The proposed school was off to an extraordinary start."

Today we commemorate a special day in the School's history!