Reverend Dr. Louis P. Ledoux purchases the Wood Farm on the Heights, a spur of Storm King Mountain and moves his school from the village, establishing the Cornwall Heights School. The Wood boarding house, “a plain Noah’s Ark-shaped house,” was the home of the school for 28 years.
The Crumb -- A "journal of amusing stories, and useful information” is published, and believed to be the School’s first student newspaper.
Mr. Oren Cobb becomes proprietor of the School shortly after marrying Adele Bisbee on September 12th of that year. He serves as headmaster for 15 years until ill health forces him to step down.
Dr. Carlos H. Stone begins 29-year term as headmaster. Dr. Stone enlarges the campus, increases enrollment, and, by 1907, completes all the new construction that would take place on the campus for 50 years, with the exception of Stone Hall, built in 1927.
The Echo, a school literary magazine and precursor to The Quarry newspaper, makes its first appearance. Editor-in-chief is Jim Robertson.
A new student theater group is formed, known as the Dramatics Club. Over the years, the club is known by various names, such as The Players Club, The Mountaineer Players and Mountain Top Players. In all of its incarnations, the group shares the goal of cultivating student creativity and interest in the theater and performing arts.
Hot water heat is installed and in July, a new gym is under construction by contractor George Stevenson.
Cornwall Heights School’s yearbook, The Jabberwocky, is published. That year, 8 senior boys graduate and sports include football, tennis, baseball and a newly created “minor” sport – ice hockey. The one-act comedy “Dr. Baxter’s Wonderful Invention” is staged during the winter season.
In 1912, Cornwall Heights School is renamed The Stone School and incorporated under New York State law on June 25, 1914.
The school’s newspaper, The Quarry is first published.
Dr. Stone’s assistant, Alvin E. Duerr, succeeds him as headmaster.
Plans for the School’s 50th anniversary are abandoned due to a preponderance of alumni enlisting to fight in World War I. However, special events at commencement that year include speeches by Dr. Albert Ledoux and Dr. Lyman Abbott. The senior class gives the school a gift of handmade bleachers, while alumni give a flag, flagstaff and swimming pool.
Memorial Rock, featuring the alumni memorial tablet dedicated “To Our One Hundred and Sixty Two Boys Who Served in the World War…” serves as a reminder and place of remembrance of those Storm King School graduates who fought in WWI. Over the decades, plaques commemorating the sacrifices of SKS military members in subsequent U.S. conflicts, have been added. Services during Armistice, Veteran’s and Memorial Days and Reunion Weekends have been historically observed at Memorial Rock.
The Stone School becomes a chapter in the Cum Laude Society.
The School is renamed The Storm King School
Raphael J. Shortledge succeeds as Headmaster and drops the lower school. Elting H. Breed incorporates the School as a stock company under nine trustees. Breed serves as president.
With a change of administration, the student newspaper is renamed The Storm King Bulletin and is published as a “news sheet” that wins a high ranking from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association.
Stone Hall is built. Throughout its existence, Stone Hall serves variously as s dormitory, infirmary and classroom building.
The Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York issues a provisional charter that makes SKS a tax-exempt educational institution. An absolute charter is issued April 26, 1935.
The Triangular League is formed. The three participating schools in this athletic league are Storm King, Hackley and Riverdale.
While students battle a brush fire at Spy Rock House, there is a sudden breakout of fire on first floor of Senior Hall housing classrooms, an auditorium and dorms for seniors. Flames start in the direction of neighboring Main Building, but firemen are able to save it. Senior Hall is burned to the ground. The cause of fire remains a mystery to this day. That week, several forest fires in surrounding area occurred, students and faculty aided firemen in putting them out.
The Storm King Bulletin reverts to its former name: The Quarry.
Anson Barker starts 19-year term as headmaster. In partnership with Dr. Ernest Stillman, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, he guides the school through the difficult years of the Depression and WWII. Teacher and coach as well as administrator, Anson is remembered for his strong faculty and his personal regard for every boy.
Headmaster Anson Barker institutes the first Mountain Day, beginning an SKS tradition that continues to present day. According to November 3, 1932 edition of The Quarry, "the whole School turned out for a hike through Black Rock Forest and a picnic lunch on a recent Friday, when classes were called off after the third period - an innovation of Mr. Barker's." Photo from 1935.
The School adopts Margaret Clarke’s original emblem as the official school crest. Margaret was the first female faculty member of The School.
The sport of fencing is added to the schools curriculum in the winter of 1938. The first fencing match takes place February 19, 1938 against Riverdale.
Margaret Clark retires from Storm King after 44 remarkable years of service. Hired by Dr. Carlos Stone as an art teacher, she also taught mechanical drawing, manual training (wood and metal working), mathematics and geography, painted sets for school plays, and authored the school crest. In 1912, she was put in charge of the Lower School, and four years later, made responsible for the whole School. During the war years, she worked in the Infirmary and by 1928, relieved of her administrative duties, moved to Spy Rock House, where she resided until retirement. Her legacy is honored annually with the presentation of the Miss Margaret Clark Faculty Excellence Award to deserving, former Storm King teachers.
The Wilder Memorial Hockey Rink is opened on January 31, 1948
The School is led for one year by Mr. Harrison M. Davis, Jr.
Burke Boyce, foil fencer for the 1924 U.S. Olympic team, succeeds Davis as headmaster.
The Storm King School's crest is redesigned by Clifford Stubbs.
Under the instruction of Headmaster Boyce, SKS enjoys an undefeated season as New York Scholastic Fencing Champions.
Warren P. Leonard starts his 10-year term as headmaster. Under Leonard's leadership, the School embarks on an enormous phase of physical expansion in the run up to its Centennial.
The historic Towar House, (sometimes referred to as "Tower House), a frame house used as a dorm, is destroyed by fire. 20 students and 3 faculty members lose all of their possessions.
Three new buildings on campus are dedicated: The Ralph E. Ogden Library, The Dean Malcolm H. Dyar classroom building, and Highmount Dormitory. Please see following events for more information.
The Dean Malcolm H. Dyar classroom building, in honor of a respected teacher who gave 40 years of service to the school, provides five classrooms for the English and History classes.
Highmount Dormitory (a.k.a. John Orr Dormitory) furnishes rooms for 26 boys, a lounge, and quarters for both a married master (dorm parent) and his family and a single master.
This library, attractively terraced, houses 7,000 volumes, and includes an audio-visual room, study cartels, and a lounge enhanced by a huge stone fireplace and art displays.
The Quarry newspaper is renamed The Mountaineer, but the alumni periodical retains its Quarry title.
The George R. Dempsey Dormitory is built, accommodating 26 boys, a married master (dorm parent) and a single master.
The Dr. Ernest Stillman Science Center is built containing classrooms, separate laboratories for biology, chemistry, and physics, as well as research laboratory for a scientist in residence. On a lower level are audio-visual facilities, a darkroom, and an art studio for a variety of student projects in two and three-dimensional art.
A new gymnasium is dedicated providing airy basketball, wrestling, lockers and reception facilities.
Mr. Ralph E. Ogden gives the School a sculpture by renowned Viennese sculptor Joseph Pillhofer, to display in front of the Ogden Library.
Matthiessen Field, for decades the School's athletic field, is bequeathed to SKS by Mrs. Marie Abbott. Fencing and drainage of the field are added.
Storm King Mountain becomes the epicenter of the modern environmental movement as Beatrice “Smokey” Abbott Duggan and her husband, SKS Trustee Stephen Duggan, Jr. along with other local residents (founding members of Scenic Hudson Preservation Conference) win legal proceedings against energy powerhouse Consolidated Edison which wanted to build its Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Project on the mountain. The case, Scenic Hudson Preservation Conference v. Federal Power Commission was settled in SHPC’s favor and sets a precedent giving groups legal standing “because of their special interest in aesthetic, conservational and recreational aspects of the mountain”. This decision is part of a 17-year long suit that is finally settled in 1982. Stephen Duggan, Jr. spent 47 years on The Storm King School Board of Trustees, and was Chairman for 25 of them. He was the founder and first chairman of the National Resources Defense Council, the watchdog organization that defends the environment.
Frank D. Brogan takes over as headmaster. During his 8-year tenure, he presides over the School’s 100th anniversary celebrations and the transition of Storm King from an all-boys school to a co-educational institution. He is remembered as a beloved leader and visionary.
Storm King’s 100th anniversary is formally marked with a celebration attended by 600 guests and featured speaker, Honorable W. Averell Harriman, U.S. Ambassador at Large and former N.Y. State governor. The event takes place on the terrace of Orr Commons, the newly built student center which is dedicated on that day. Also in attendance: past headmasters Anson Barker, Harrison Davis, Jr. and Warren Leonard; Dean Malcolm Dyar, Mrs. Colby Stilson (widow of Walter S. Orr), Ralph E. Ogden, L. Pierre Ledoux, a Trustee and the great grandson of the School’s founder, Dr. Carlos Stone’s daughter Mrs. Samuel Dodge, and grandson of Alvin Duerr, Cole Duerr.
The gymnasium burns down, in what the The Mountaineer deems the “worst fire in Storm King School history”. Rebuilding takes place almost immediately, with a similar design (replica) that is up by December 1968. Careless smoking is listed as cause.
The century-old Old Main Building is demolished to make room for a larger athletic field. According to the Summer 1968 edition of the SKS Alumni Quarry, “The mountaintop landmark which will be remembered fondly by countless graduates served a variety of purposes in its long history. The majestic old structure during its final years housed twenty-four boys and three faculty families and served as well as the school’s infirmary.” Boys housed in Old Main move into the new McConnell Hall dormitory.
Construction begins on five, new all-weather tennis courts, located on the former track north of Orr Commons.
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