Boston Latin Academy
Address
205 Townsend Street

Boston
,
Massachusetts

United States
Information
TypePublic coeducational exam school
Motto'Vita Tua Sit Sincera' (Latin)
('Let Thy Life be Sincere')
EstablishedNovember 27, 1877 (1877-11-27)
School districtBoston Public Schools
Head of SchoolGavin Smith
Facultyabout 90
Grade level7–12
GenderCoeducational
Enrollment1,767 (2018–19)[1]
Color(s)Black and gold    
AthleticsDragons
MascotJabberwock/Dragon
Nickname"BLA" "Dragons"
RivalJohn D. O'Bryant School of Mathematics & Science[2] formerly Boston Technical High School
National ranking279[3]
NewspaperDragon Tales
Websitewww.latinacademy.org

Boston Latin Academy (BLA) is a public exam school founded in 1878 in Boston, Massachusetts providing students in grades 7th through 12th a classical preparatory education.

Originally named Girls' Latin School, it became the first college preparatory high school for girls in the United States.[4] Coeducational since 1972, the school is located in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston and is part of Boston Public Schools (BPS).

History

Boston Latin Academy (BLA) was established on November 27, 1877[5] as Girls' Latin School (GLS). The school was founded with the intention to give a classical education and college preparatory training to girls. A plan to admit girls to Public Latin School was formed by an executive committee of the Massachusetts Society for the University Education of Women. Henry Fowle Durant, founder of Wellesley College and an advocate of higher education for women,[6] was instrumental in outlining the legal route for the school to be established. A petition with a thousand signatures was presented to the School Board in September 1877. The board referred the question to the subcommittee on high schools. Ultimately the subcommittee recommended that a separate school for girls be established. John Tetlow was unanimously elected by the School Committee on January 22, 1878 as its first headmaster.[7] On February 4, 1878, Tetlow accepted the first thirty-seven students.[8]

Girls' Latin School opened on West Newton Street in Boston's South End on February 12, 1878 sharing the building with Girls' High School.[9] The thirty-seven students were divided according to aptitude into three classes; the Sixth, Fifth, and Third class. The first graduating class in 1880 included Alice M. Mills, Charlotte W. Rogers, Vida D. Scudder, Mary L. Mason, Alice S. Rollins, and Miriam S. Witherspoon; all six were accepted to Smith College.

In 1888, Abbie Farwell Brown, Sybil Collar, and Virginia Holbrook decided to create a school newspaper. The name Jabberwock was picked from a list that Abbie Farwell Brown submitted. It was taken from "Jabberwocky", the famous nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking Glass. They wrote to Lewis Carroll in London about the name and received a handwritten letter giving them permission for its use. The Jabberwock is one of the oldest school newspapers in the United States.[10]

The number of students grew each year. When the number of students exceeded 350 in 1898, the school committee moved the first four classes to a building in Copley Square vacated by the Chauncy Hall School while the fifth and sixth remained in the old building. In 1907, Girls' Latin School moved into a brand new building, shared with the Boston Normal School, located on Huntington Avenue in the Fenway.

The school remained there until 1955, when Teachers' College expanded, forcing Girls' Latin School to relocate to the former Dorchester High School for Girls building located in Codman Square.

In 1972, boys were admitted for the first time to Girls' Latin School. The school name was changed in 1975[11] and the first graduating class of Boston Latin Academy was in 1977.[12][13]

In 1981, Latin Academy moved back into the Fenway area, this time to Ipswich Street, across from Fenway Park. It remained there until the summer of 1991, when it moved back again, this time to its present location in the former Roxbury Memorial and Boston Technical High School building, located on Townsend St. in Roxbury.

In 2001, Boston Latin Academy became the first high school to form an official Eastern Massachusetts High School Red Cross Club.[14] The club is one of the biggest in the school with over 100 members. Latin Academy's Red Cross Club is also one of the biggest high school Red Cross Club in Eastern Massachusetts.

94% of its graduating students go on to attend four-year colleges. In 2010 Boston Latin Academy received a Silver Medal as one of the top public high schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.[15]

Locations

Photo Description Address and Coordinates Notes
Built from 1869 through 1871, the building occupied a 30,480-square-foot (2,832 m2) lot fronting on West Newton Street in the South End. Home to Girls' Latin from 1878 to 1907, the building was razed in 1960 and a playground now occupies the site. 75 West Newton Street, South End
42°21′28″N 71°03′35″W / 42.357909°N 71.059798°W / 42.357909; -71.059798		 [16]
Chauncy Hall In February 1898, the first through fourth classes, approximately 240 students, were moved to the Chauncy Hall School in Copley Square which had been vacated two years earlier. The fifth and sixth classes remained at West Newton location. 593–597 Boylston Street, Back Bay
42°21′02″N 71°04′37″W / 42.35058710576959°N 71.07695746859146°W / 42.35058710576959; -71.07695746859146		 [16]
On November 11, 1902, the Committee on High Schools ordered that the Board of Commissioners, "purchase a site and erect a building for Girls' Latin, at the earliest possible date." Girls' Latin School expanded from approximately 421 students in 1907 to over 1,200 students in 1955, the year in which State Teachers College at Boston took over the entirety of the campus. The building later became part of Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Huntington Avenue, Fenway
42°20′14″N 71°05′58″W / 42.3373462792054°N 71.09944735575482°W / 42.3373462792054; -71.09944735575482		 [16]
The next home of GLS, the former Dorchester High School and Dorchester High School for Girls building in Codman Square, was originally completed in 1901. 380 Talbot Avenue, Dorchester
42°17′25″N 71°04′12″W / 42.2903°N 71.0701°W / 42.2903; -71.0701		 [16]
From 1981 to 1991, the school returned to the Fenway area in a former annex of Boston State College. After BLA was relocated this building housed Boston Arts Academy and was later razed in 2019. 174 Ipswich Street, Fenway
42°20′47″N 71°05′42″W / 42.34633207697053°N 71.09491602717284°W / 42.34633207697053; -71.09491602717284		 [16][17]
Since 1991, the school has been located in the former home of the Roxbury Memorial High School, and later Boston Technical High School. 205 Townsend Street, Roxbury
42°18′58″N 71°05′04″W / 42.3161°N 71.0845°W / 42.3161; -71.0845		 [16]

Heads of School

The title of the school’s chief administrator was changed from "Headmaster" to "Head of School" during the 2020-2021 school year.

  • John Tetlow (1878–1910)
  • Ernest J. Hapgood (1910–1948)
  • Louis A. McCoy (1948–1957)
  • Thomas F. Gately (1957–1965)
  • William T. Miller (1965–1966)
  • Margaret C. Carroll (1966–1978)
  • M. Louise Dooley (acting, 1978-1979)[18]
  • Christopher Lane (1979–1981)[19][20]
  • Douglas Foster (1981–1983)[20]
  • Robert Binswanger (1983–1991)
  • Maria Garcia-Aaronson (1991–2009)
  • Emilia Pastor (2010–2014; 2014–2015)
  • Richard Sullivan (acting, 2014)
  • Troy Henninger (2015–2017)
  • Chimdi Uchendu (2017–2020 (acting until 2018))
  • Gerald Howland (acting, 2020-2021)
  • Gavin Smith (2021–present)

Notable alumni

Known class year listed. Non-graduate alumni noted as NG.

Academia, science and technology

Business

Arts and music

Athletics

Film, television and theatre

Writers and journalists

Government and diplomacy

Judiciary and law

Medicine

  • Hannah Myrick (1892) – physician, superintendent of New England Hospital for Women and Children[62]

Politicians

Activists

Other

Athletics

Latin Academy offers a wide variety of sports. The team nickname is Dragons, analogous to the original school mascot the Jabberwock.

  • Baseball
  • Basketball (boys)
  • Basketball (girls)
  • Cheerleading
  • Football
  • Indoor Track
  • Hockey (boys)
  • Hockey (girls)
  • Outdoor Track
  • Soccer (boys)
  • Soccer (girls)
  • Softball
  • Swimming
  • Tennis (boys)
  • Tennis (girls)
  • Track
  • Volleyball (boys)
  • Volleyball (girls)
  • Wrestling

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Enrollment Data (2021-22) - Boston Latin Academy (00350545)".
  2. ↑ "Bailey Belony sparks Boston Latin Academy to a triumph over Thanksgiving rival O'Bryant at Fenway Park". Boston Globe. November 22, 2022.
  3. ↑ "2022 Best U.S. High Schools". U.S. News & World Report.
  4. ↑ "About BLA". Boston Latin Academy. Retrieved August 13, 2023.
  5. ↑ "The School Committee", Boston Evening Transcript, November 28, 1877
  6. ↑ "College History". Trustees of Wellesley College. Retrieved December 28, 2018.
  7. ↑ "THE SCHOOL SACHEMS", Boston Globe, January 23, 1878
  8. ↑ "History of Girls Latin School 1878-1976". YouTube. May 19, 2011. Archived from the original on 2021-12-19. Retrieved December 28, 2018.
  9. ↑ "Opening of the Girls' Latin School", Boston Globe, February 12, 1878
  10. ↑ "Boston Latin Academy ~ Girls' Latin School Alumni Association". Archived from the original on 2013-01-20. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  11. ↑ "Board to expel unruly students", Boston Globe, February 26, 1975
  12. ↑ "179 receive diplomas from Girls Latin", Boston Globe, June 11, 1976
  13. ↑ "Latin Academy graduates 169", Boston Globe, June 9, 1977
  14. ↑ "Red Cross Clubs | Eastern Massachusetts | American Red Cross". Redcross.org. Retrieved 2018-04-09.
  15. ↑ "Boston Latin Academy: Best High Schools - USNews.com". Archived from the original on 2010-04-01. Retrieved 2010-05-03.
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "History". Archived from the original on July 27, 2012.
  17. ↑ "Latin Academy heading for a new home", Boston Globe, August 13, 1981
  18. ↑ "On Honor Roll" (PDF). Charlestown Patriot via docdroid.net.
  19. ↑ "Boston Latin Academy Racial-Ethnic Council March, 1980" (PDF).
  20. 1 2 "NEW HOME FOR LATIN ACADEMY; BOSTON LATIN ACADEMY MOVING TO THE FENWAY AREA". Boston Globe. August 13, 1981.
  21. ↑ "Diplomas Award 132 Seniors at Boston Girls' Latin School", Boston Globe, June 13, 1941
  22. ↑ "Yvonne Young Clark and Carol Lawson Interview" (PDF). SWE Storycorps Interviews. Society of Women Engineers. October 26, 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 26, 2017. Retrieved June 28, 2017.
  23. 1 2 3 4 "Outstanding Alumnae/i". Archived from the original on February 3, 2015.
  24. ↑ "Girls' Latin High". Boston Evening Transcript. 1914-06-19. p. 10. Retrieved 2022-01-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ↑ "Memorial to Mary Welleck Garretson" (PDF). Charles H. Behire, Jr. The Geological Society of America, Inc. Retrieved August 20, 2023.
  26. ↑ Riddle, Larry, "Deborah Tepper Haimo", Biographies of Women Mathematicians, Agnes Scott College, retrieved 2017-10-28
  27. ↑ Henry, Barbara; Helman, Scott (June 27, 2014). "Teaching Ruby Bridges". The Boston Globe. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
  28. ↑ "Girls' Latin Graduation Here Tonight", Boston Globe, June 5, 1956
  29. ↑ "Maud W. Makemson". Vassar Encyclopedia. Vassar College. Retrieved June 28, 2017.
  30. ↑ "Obituary", Boston Globe, August 18, 2006
  31. ↑ Bever, Marilynn Arsey (1976). The women of M.I.T., 1871-1941 : who they were, what they achieved. MIT libraries (Thesis). hdl:1721.1/33804?show=full. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  32. ↑ "Memories of a Girls' Latin School grad", Boston Globe, April 2, 1971
  33. ↑ "West Roxbury Women's Heritage Trail: We Will Walk in Her Steps". Boston Women's Heritage Trail.
  34. ↑ Ware, Susan. "Barbara Miller Solomon". Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved 2023-03-30.
  35. ↑ "Woman assistant dean at Harvard", Boston Globe, February 3, 1970
  36. ↑ Graham, Jordan (September 24, 2016). "At Boston alma mater, Airbnb co-founder touts funding". Boston Herald. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
  37. ↑ Tonn, Jenna (2019). "The Woman Zoologist Who Found a Home for Her Science in Chicken Farming". Lady Science. Archived from the original on 2021-04-29. Retrieved 2021-10-02.
  38. 1 2 "Alumni Boston Latin Academy (formerly Girls' Latin School)". Finalsite. Boston Public Schools. 2022. Retrieved August 18, 2023.
  39. ↑ "Louise Bogan's Life and Career". Archived from the original on 2016-03-25.
  40. ↑ "Lorraine O'Grady: From Bureaucrat to Rock Critic to World-Renowned Artist". Archived from the original on 2017-11-08. Retrieved 2017-11-07.
  41. ↑ Woman's who's who of America, 1914–15. p. 540. wikisource.org
  42. ↑ "MRS JOSEPHINE PRESTON PEABODY MARKS DIED EARLY TODAY", Boston Globe, December 4, 1922
  43. ↑ Hult, Joan S.; Trekell, Marianna (1991). A Century of Women's Basketball: from Frailty to Final Four. Reston, Va: National Association for Girls and Women in Sport. ISBN 978-0-88314-490-9.
  44. ↑ Roberts, David (2010). The Life and Adventures of Bradford Washburn, America's Boldest Mountaineer. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. pp. 184, 190–191, 192–204, 226–235. ISBN 978-0-06-156095-8.
  45. ↑ Willard, Frances E., and Mary A. Livermore, eds. A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-Seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life. Moulton, 1893, pp. 5-6.
  46. ↑ "Students Vote 2 to 1 for Constitutional Parley", Boston Globe, April 2, 1960
  47. ↑ "She's got comic flair", Boston Globe, June 9, 1968
  48. ↑ D'Ambrosio, Brian (2019). Montana Entertainers: Famous and Almost Forgotten. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-439-66733-0.
  49. ↑ "Girls' Latin School", Boston Evening Transcript, June 23, 1891
  50. ↑ ""Fenway's Best Players" Broadcasting". fenwayparkdiaries.com. Fred Rapoport. Retrieved 2023-08-20.
  51. ↑ "Mary Caroline Crawford '07 · Suffrage at Simmons". simmons.libguides.com. Simmons University Archives. Retrieved 2022-08-09.
  52. ↑ "Theodora Kimball Hubbard | The Cultural Landscape Foundation". tclf.org. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
  53. ↑ Toner, Robin (2004-04-23). "Mary McGrory, 85, Longtime Washington Columnist, Dies". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-01-13.
  54. ↑ "Appreciation: Mary McGrory, Post columnist, dies". www.natcath.org. Retrieved 2016-01-13.
  55. ↑ Collins, Bud (2003). "Carol Newsom, was 54; pioneering tennis photographer". The Boston Globe.
  56. ↑ "Shaw works to 'involve' people", Boston Globe, August 22, 1968
  57. ↑ "Reporter honored for barrier-breaking career", Boston Globe, May 9, 2016
  58. ↑ "Dorothy West, at 91; one of last Harlem Renaissance authors", Boston Globe, August 19, 1998
  59. ↑ "Hiroshima, Washington--26 years of service", Boston Globe, February 20, 1969
  60. ↑ "Eileen Donovan, 81, Former Ambassador". The New York Times. December 25, 1996. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  61. ↑ "Ubben Posse Fellow Interviews: Hon. Patti Saris". The Posse Foundation.
  62. ↑ "Hannah Glidden Myrick (1871–1973)". Women Working, 1800–1930. Harvard University Library Open Collections Program. Retrieved June 28, 2017.
  63. ↑ "Dorchester's State Representatives team for the next 2 years". The Dorchester Post.
  64. ↑ Abel, David; Driscoll Jr., Edgar J. (October 29, 2003). "Ruth Batson, leading figure in education, civil rights". archive.boston.com. Retrieved 2019-01-17.
  65. ↑ "Ruth Batson's high school graduation portrait". Fourteen portraits of Ruth Batson. Harvard University Library. Retrieved October 18, 2016.
  66. ↑ Black Women Oral History Project: Interview with Ellen Jackson. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College. 1968. pp. ii–vii.
  67. ↑ "Diplomas Awarded to 315 at Dorchester High School", Boston Globe, June 8, 1954
  68. ↑ "Happy Birthday Sarah Ida Shaw Martin!". franbecque.com. Fran Becque. Retrieved August 20, 2023.
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