History of The Hill School

The Hill School was founded in 1851 by the Rev. Matthew Meigs as the Family Boarding School for Boys and Young Men. However, it soon, acquired its current name from the mansion in which the school was originally located in which was known as The Hill.
The School opened on May 1, 1851, enrolling 25 boys for the first year. According to Paul Chancellor’s The History of The Hill School: 1851-1976, “He wanted to stress that he was not founding still another academy, but a type of school quite new and rare in America. There is a tendency to think that the boys’ boarding school as we know it existed as long as there have been private schools. It has not. Most of the 12 to 15 schools generally considered the “core” group were established in the last half of the nineteenth century. Of this whole group of schools, The Hill was the first to be founded as a "family boarding school" (a school where the students lived on campus), as opposed to boarding with families in the town.
"In the thirty-five years of John Meigs' administration 'The Hill,' as it is known to all its boys, has become one of the great secondary schools of the country. It might be said to bear the same relation to the English public schools of Rugby and Eton and Westminster that the American college bears to the English universities. It has the traditions of scholarship, good breeding, and moral ideals characteristic of the English-speaking race, and with them it has the spirit of American democracy."
Fires
Three fires occurred during the school's history in 1884, 1890, and 1973
After the fire of 1890, electric lights were installed in every room, which was a first for an educational institution in the United States
Co-education
The school became coeducational in 1998. with the admission of 88 girls
Wyndcroft School
In 1918, faculty created an open air school for children which has become the The Wyndcroft School.
The Hill School camp
In 1910, several teachers purchased the Rust family farm in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire to establish a summer academic program called the Hill camp. The program included environmental biology courses, developmental and remedial reading, and review and preview work in secondary school subjects, and was open to applicants from all schools Grades 7 to 12. It also offered water sports, and other outdoor activities, and hired teachers from other prominent schools, and attracted students from both the US and abroad. The camp is currently independently run by the Wolfeboro Camp School.

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