Lillias Rumsey Sanford 1850-1940

The Formative Years
On October 1st, 1900, Mrs. Lillias Rumsey Sanford of Seneca Falls, New York founded the second private nondenominational pre-preparatory school in the United States. It was called "The Terrace: Mrs. Sanford's School for Boys" and was located in a huge mansion which Lillias Sanford's father had built. This was to be a "home-school" for boys under thirteen years old. Its purpose was to prepare them for the new private secondary schools, many of which had been founded during the preceding fifteen years.

The catalog for 1900-1901 begins with these words: "Great care will be taken to make the home life bright and happy, to cultivate in the young boys high ideals, and to control them by judicious means without harsh measures."

The Cornwall Years
In 1906, Mrs. Sanford took two actions, which would profoundly influence the course of Rumsey Hall School for the next fifty years. First, she moved the school (now called Rumsey Hall) from Seneca Falls to Cornwall, CT. It would remain there until 1949. Second, she hired Louis Henry Schutte as her second Headmaster, replacing Walter Wildman. Mr. Schutte became Rumsey's longest standing tenured Headmaster, serving from 1906 to 1941.

Football season in Cornwall

The unique working relationship of Mrs. Sanford and Mr. Schutte became the cornerstone of Rumsey Hall School in Cornwall, the embodiment of two passionate educators who shared the same vision. Many traditions still survive today: a prize for Declamation has been a Rumsey standard since the earliest days and Track and Field Day has been a yearly event since 1912. Mrs. Sanford died in 1940. Her daughter-in-law, Helen Greves Sanford, then took over as Director, until 1941. Headmaster Schutte declined an option to purchase the school, and in 1941 it passed into the hands of John Forby Schereschewsky, popularly known as "Mr. Sherry". Mr. Sherry and his wife, Betty, came to Rumsey Hall from Suffield Academy, where he had been Headmaster.

No sooner had the Sherrys purchased the school than World War II broke out. The country was in turmoil, and in 1943, Mr. Sherry left Rumsey Hall to join the Navy for two years. He served his tour of duty with the amphibious forces and commanded a landing craft during the Normandy invasion. During this time, Mr. David Griffin Barr, a devoted faculty member since 1914, was appointed Headmaster of Rumsey Hall. Together with Mrs. Sherry, he led Rumsey Hall as an interim director until Mr. Sherry returned as Director. Mr. Barr remained Headmaster until 1956.

Tennis season in Cornwall

In the late 40's Mr. Sherry and Mr. Barr found themselves faced with a momentous decision. In Washington, CT lay the vacant campus of the former Romford School for Boys, a casualty of wartime hardship. A Washington consortium formed by several prominent citizens of the area was seeking a new occupant for the campus, and they approached Mr. Sherry to see if he might consider it as a home for Rumsey Hall.

This vacant campus held several attractions. In Cornwall, limited campus space had always been an issue, preventing any further expansion of the school. Moreover, Rumsey Hall did not own the buildings it occupied and had to lease them from the town of Cornwall.

The Early Washington Years
When the Washington consortium offered to underwrite the cost of moving the school from Cornwall to Washington, Mr. Sherry and the Board of Trustees accepted the offer. Rumsey Hall's Class of 1949 was the last class to be educated in Cornwall as the school headed for its third and final location.

Students looking for a ride...

Co-education was introduced with the 1949-1950 academic year, with Rumsey Hall becoming one of the first schools of its kind to discontinue an all-male enrollment. New building projects continued through the 1950's and 1960's as the enrollment of the school steadily increased.

In 1965 Mr. Sherry's son, John Forby Schereschewsky, Jr. '47, became Headmaster. A Harvard graduate like his father, Mr. Sherry, Jr. eagerly embraced the Rumsey lifestyle as a teacher, coach and administrator. For four years, Mr. Sherry, Sr. and Mr. Sherry, Jr. led Rumsey Hall as Director and Headmaster, respectively, bringing Rumsey Hall to unprecedented heights of enrollment and reputation.

This collaboration ended in 1969, when Mr. Sherry, Sr. died and Mr. Sherry, Jr. succeeded his father as Director. Louis George Magnoli, a teacher and administrator at Rumsey since 1957, was appointed Headmaster. Mr. Sherry, Jr. and Mr. Magnoli held firm to their beliefs in the value of a traditional education during the turbulent early 1970's. By 1977, this belief combined with sound leadership earned both of them widespread respect and admiration, as well as resurgence in applications for admission. The untimely death of Mr. Sherry, Jr. during a hunting accident in 1977 left Mr. Magnoli at the helm alone, a position he filled admirably.

Mr. Magnoli was well loved as a teacher, coach and Headmaster. A natural athlete himself, he coached varsity football for twenty-one years and varsity baseball for twenty-eight years. He oversaw the construction and renovation of many buildings on campus, and, with an eye to the future, inaugurated a mandatory course in basic computer literacy. He also instituted the advisor program wherein each student was assigned a faculty member as his or her permanent advisor. From 1957 to his retirement in 1985, Mr. Magnoli played an integral part in every aspect of life at Rumsey Hall.

Rumsey Hall Today

Sisters and brothers, 1965

Mr. Magnoli's successor, Thomas Wadt Farmen, has managed to preserve the traditions of Rumsey Hall, while responding to the challenges of educating children in today's world. Mr. Farmen came to Rumsey Hall in 1974 as a science teacher. He occupied many positions of responsibility before becoming Headmaster, including Head of the Science Department, Director of Athletics and Director of Secondary School Placement. Under his administration, Rumsey Hall has continued its traditions, providing a challenging program in a supportive, family-like atmosphere.

In 1997, the J. Seward Johnson, Sr. Fine Arts Center, the Garassino Family Classroom Building, which houses grades K-2, a nd the Satyavati Science Center were completed. In 1999, the School purchased 47 acres of adjacent property and a gift of 14 adjacent acres was given in honor of Rumsey’s Centennial. These two gifts almost doubled the size of the campus and brought on the creation of the current campus master plan.

Throughout the 1999-2000 school year, Rumsey Hall celebrated its Centennial. Festivities included the first annual student and faculty bike ride from the old Cornwall campus to the current Washington campus; several special symposiums on the history and culture of the School with guest speakers including alumni, former faculty and neighbors; and a Centennial Celebration in June 2000 that included a black-tie gala.

Since 2000, through generous annual giving donations, the School has completed 6 additional faculty homes, the Dane Dicke Family Math and Science Building, Cutler Cottage, and has constructed the Scott Evans Seibert ’92 Memorial Field, renovated the existing football field (now Roy Field), the Pavek Field, and has renovated numerous classrooms and dormitories. Annual gifts also allow the School to improve student programs and fairly compensate faculty.

Rumsey Hall currently enrolls 312 students from kindergarten through grade nine. The Upper School (Forms IV-VII) includes students from 12 countries, 21 states, and 26 local communities.