Notable Dates in Madeira’s History

1873
Lucy Madeira, daughter of Selinda Pierpont and Nicholas Madera [sic], is born on May 19 in Martinsburg, West Virginia.
1887
The Madeira family moves to Washington, D.C., in May. LMW’s mother keeps a boarding house and LMW enrolls in Washington Central High School.
1892
LMW receives the first “scholarship” (in fact, a loan) given by Washington Vassar alumnae to attend Vassar College.
1896
LMW graduates from Vassar and accepts a position as history teacher at the National Park Seminary School at Forest Glen, Maryland.
1897
LMW begins a nine-year stint as history teacher at the Sidwell Friends’ Select School. Frances Haldeman Sidwell, like LMW, had come to Washington from Martinsburg, West Virginia. Mrs. Sidwell also attended Washington Central High and Vassar College. She was both employer and mentor to LMW, encouraging her to found her own school when LMW’s salary proved inadequate to support her family.
1906
LMW borrows $6000 to open Miss Madeira’s school on October 1 “for the purpose of preparing girls for the leading women’s colleges.” Twenty-eight students attend classes in two buildings on 19th Street just off Dupont Circle in downtown Washington, D.C. The school offers four years of high school and eight years of elementary school. Tuition is $700 for boarders and $100 for day students. The original staff consists of nine instructors (including LMW), a head of house who also serves as a chaperone, and one secretary. LMW’s mother serves as head housekeeper, assisted by Addie Newman.
1907
The first commencement is held at Rauscher’s restaurant on Connecticut Avenue. The first graduating class is composed of two students. One attends Vassar College, the other, the University of Wisconsin. Student government is established for boarders. The Tatler, the school newspaper and literary magazine, begins publication. Festina lente “Make haste slowly” (attributed to Augustus Caesar) is adopted as the school motto. 
1908
The school begins the custom of holding mock presidential elections. LMW, Frank Bright (lawyer and close friend), and faculty members begin the tradition of weekend and holiday picnic trips to the surrounding countryside.
1909
The Madeira School Alumnae Association is founded.
1910
Student government for day students begins but is not initially a success. LMW becomes concurrent head of the Potomac School. Kitaro Yamada becomes first Asian student.
1912
At the request of students, uniforms are instituted. LMW takes students to congressional hearings on the Lawrence Mill Workers case, inaugurating a tradition of involvement in political affairs that survives in Madeira’s present day Co-Curriculum program. The Court of Equity or judicial branch of student government is founded. LMW ends her term as head of the Potomac School.
1913
Founding of the Social Welfare League. Sarah Spalding is appointed assistant secretary, and the triumvirate of Susan Coyle, Sarah Spalding, and Elizabeth Bryan defines the administration of the school until the late 1930s.
1915
Field hockey, played on the Ellipse in front of the White House, becomes a major sport. Holton-Arms is a principal rival.
1917
LMW marries David LaForest Wing, husband of a deceased Vassar classmate, Mary Mumford. She becomes stepmother to Mary’s young children, Wilson and Mary Wing.
1918
School undergoes quarantine for Spanish influenza, and day school closes for a month. Students continue to raise money for hospitals and the Armenian Fund as the issue of “bobbing hair” occupies their immediate interest. Students attend Wilson’s second inauguration.
1919
Brooke Russell Astor and Cornelia Vanderbilt are members of this class. Brooke is withdrawn for fear of her "becoming a bluestocking," but Cornelia graduates.
1920
Edward, Prince of Wales, excites great interest and rubbernecking among Madeira girls when he stays at the nearby British Embassy. LMW and several students, including Lucinda Mealy Primrose ’23, enjoy impromptu picnic lunch with Gen. Pershing while hiking in Rock Creek Park.
1921
School hymn, “To One Who Cherished Us,” sung to the tune of the Russian Imperial Anthem with words by Katherine Ward ’17, is adopted.
1924
Mr. Wing purchases several adjacent plots of land at Greenway, Virginia, to hold until the school is able to buy the land for its own use.
1926
Mr. Wing dies of pneumonia.
1929
Miss Madeira’s school is incorporated as The Madeira School. Its original Board of Directors consists of LMW, president, Queene Ferry Coonley (Mrs. Avery Coonley), Hon. R. Walton Moore, Charles S. Robb, Frank S. Bright, Roy A. Young, governor of the Federal Reserve Board, and Judge J. Harry Covington. Sarah Spalding and Elizabeth Bryan serve as secretaries to the board. Plans begin to build a new school on the Greenway property. The board incurs a debt of $600,000 to be raised by the sale of bonds and a $300,000 loan from Eugene Meyer.
1931
The new school at Greenway opens. The original buildings are Main, the dining hall, Schoolhouse, East, West, North, and South Dorms, The Land, the Annex (infirmary), and the two gate houses at the entrance to the Oval. Facilities include playing fields and riding stables. Allegra Maynard joins staff as administrative assistant. Tuition, room and board in the new school is $1700. Day student tuition is $400.
1932
A major snow storm knocks out all electrical power, and entire student body must be evacuated to the Grace Dodge Hotel in downtown Washington for several days. Classes are held in the lounge of the hotel. Millicent Rex joins history faculty. The election of FDR causes concern among the largely Republican student body. LMW, avowed admirer of the Fabian Socialists, Beatrice and Sidney Webb, reveals she voted for Herbert Hoover. The Outing and Riding Clubs begin.
1935
The first Dogwood Tea.
1936
The Sports Building is completed. The board purchases 28 additional acres of contiguous land from Wilson Wing.
1939
Miss Coyle and Miss Spalding retire. Allegra Maynard becomes assistant headmistress. Ruth Anderson (later, Katz) joins English faculty.
1941
Several longtime associates of the school die: Miss Coyle; Frank S. Bright; Addie Newman, housekeeper since 1906. Blackout drills and civil defense become campus fixtures. Maid service dies out, and girls begin self-service at meals and take care of their own rooms.
1943

The Madeira News begins publication.

During the war years, the following well-known individuals often visit the Madeira campus:

  • Eleanor Roosevelt, whose niece briefly attended Madeira
  • Alice Roosevelt Longworth, daughter of Theodore Roosevelt and mother of a Madeira student
  • Henry Wallace, vice president of the United States
  • Peter Marshall, minister of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church and chaplain of the Senate
  • Henry Morganthau, advisor to FDR, and father of Joan ’41
1946
Reflecting relaxed standards during wartime, lipstick is allowed on Sundays. The Compass replaces The Madeira News.
1947
First school dance with boys.
1949
School celebrates LMW’s 75th birthday. Uniform changes to grey skirts, green blazers, and green and yellow sweaters.
1950
Miss MacFadzean, longtime English teacher, retires.
1951
Initial loan from Eugene Meyer is repaid. Theresa Jackson Absher, daughter of LMW’s longtime chauffeur, joins staff as waitress, later becomes bell maid and member of the buildings and grounds staff until her retirement in 2000.
1952
The original stables are rebuilt.
1953
Miss Sayre, longtime member of the Physical Education staff, dies.
1954
Eugene and Agnes Meyer donate Meyer House and 131 acres of land adjoining the campus, bringing the school’s property to just over 376 acres. Miss Maynard becomes co-headmistress. The board purchases a final parcel of land, including The Land, from Wilson and Mary Wing.
1957
Miss Madeira retires. Allegra Maynard becomes headmistress. Building of library begins. Pastel dresses replace white shirtwaists as dinner uniform.
1958
Mrs. Glazebrook, longtime chaperone, dies. First Fathers’ Day (antecedent of present-day Parents’ Weekend) is held. Marian Smith becomes associate headmistress.
1959
Opening of new library building. Death of two major school benefactors: Queene Ferry Coonley (Mrs. Avery Coonley) and Eugene Meyer.
1960
LMW dies on June 20. “The Hill” is built to serve as the headmistress’s house. The Land is converted to faculty housing.
1962
Allegra Maynard retires and Marian Smith becomes headmistress.
1963
School attends President Kennedy’s funeral. Secretary of State Christian Herter is commencement speaker.
1964
Marian Smith resigns and Allegra Maynard returns as interim head for the 1964-1965 school year.
1965
Marian Barbara Keyser becomes fourth headmistress. Three faculty houses are built along the main campus road. Barbara Boerner joins staff as science and mathematics teacher. Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Jr., chaplain of Yale University and peace activist, is commencement speaker.
1966
The first two African-American students are admitted. The Co-Curriculum program begins. Millicent Rex, chair of the History Department, dies. The County park system proposes to take 208 acres of Madeira land to build a park.
1967
Langston Hughes lectures and holds informal discussions with students February 21-22, inspiring the Skallerup family to endow a lecture series in the 1970s.
1968
Students advocate major changes in social rules and academic requirements. Construction begins on new infirmary building. Study hall on second floor of schoolhouse is remodeled into six new classrooms. Sen. Stuart Symington (D-Mo.) delivers commencement address.
1969
Demerit/Conduct system ends.
1971
Opening of Chapel/Auditorium and New Dorm. End of Sunday Vespers.
1972
Justice Byron White of Supreme Court is commencement speaker.
1973
Alumna donates indoor riding ring and Gaines Hall is dedicated. Sara DeMott joins Science Department. Students are allowed to smoke in designated areas on campus. The Outdoor Adventure course begins. Uniforms end. Natalya Semler ’76, a student, dies of exposure on campus, and John Stephen Gilreath is convicted of her murder and sentenced to two life terms.
1974
An alumna donates funds for an outdoor swimming pool. Camp Greenway and the Greenway Swim and Tennis Club are founded to utilize the campus during summer. Wolf Trap Opera Company occupies dormitories for the summer.
1975
Solar-heated science building is completed. Nobel Prize-winning geneticist, James Watson, speaks at dedication.
1977
Barbara Keyser retires. Jean Harris appointed headmistress.
1979
Mildred Gaines retires after 39 years as riding instructor. Dottie Hayden joins Physical Education staff. Mrs. Harris retains Carlotta Miles, M.D., to establish counseling program.
1980
Madeira students attend Ronald Reagan’s inauguration, during which Iranian hostages are released, including Madeira alumna Ann Swift ’58. Jean Harris resigns following her arrest for the murder of Dr. Herman Tarnower. Kathleen Galvin Johnson ’53 becomes acting headmistress. Ruth Anderson Katz retires after 41 years in the English Department and delivers commencement address. Stuart Davis, Ph.D., joins the History Department.
1981
Charles McKinley Saltzman becomes headmaster and leads the 75th anniversary convocation.
1982
The first course in computer instruction is added to the curriculum.
1983
The Master Teacher program is inaugurated. First honorees are Virginia Robb, mathematics; Marcia Myers, art; and Lydia Sorrels, language.
1984
Renovation and expansion of the dining hall is completed. Completion of a Payne Foundation Challenge for a record total of $4 million in new funds. Two alumnae donate funds to build faculty houses and name the Allegra Maynard Quadrangle between North and South Dorms.
1985
New playing field is completed.
1986
Faculty houses on the Maynard Quadrangle and the student commons under the dining hall are completed.
1987
The board completes its strategic plan.
1988
Elisabeth Griffith, PhD., is appointed headmistress.
1990
The Campaign for Madeira is launched with the goal of raising $18.5 million.
1992
Hurd Sports Center opened.
1993
The old gymnasium is renovated to become the Huffington Library.
1996
30th anniversary of the Co-Curriculum program. 90th anniversary of the school’s founding. Dedication of plaque marking the school’s original location at Dupont Circle. Gen. Colin Powell delivers commencement address.
1999
Launching of Elisabeth G. Griffith Women’s Leadership Lecture Series with First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton as speaker. Elizabeth Dole delivers commencement speech.
2006
The Madeira School celebrates its centennial year.