History and Traditions
“As Americans and as churchmen, we did the right thing to take hold of the school work in Utah.”
Daniel Tuttle, Episcopal Bishop of Montana and the Western Territories
“As a mission school in late nineteenth-century Utah, Rowland Hall set new standards for our state in the quality of its teaching, in the character of its curriculum, and in the educational opportunities it provided for both girls and boys.” David Pierpont Gardner, former President of the University of Utah
Today 1,000 children are educated on two campuses in Salt Lake City. Beginning School and Lower School students learn and play on the Philip G. McCarthey Campus. The Lincoln Street Campus, just one mile to the west, is the setting for the academic and social life of Middle School, Upper School, and Rowmark Ski Academy students.
We are Utah’s oldest independent college preparatory day school and one of the finest in the country.
Our school’s history begins in 1867 in a half-ruined adobe bowling alley in Salt Lake City where sixteen young scholars have come for an education. Established by the Right Reverend Daniel Sylvester Tuttle, the first Episcopal bishop of Montana and the Western Territories, St. Mark’s schools for boys and girls, and their sister school Rowland Hall, founded in 1880, were the forefront of education in Utah: before Utah was a state, before there were public schools, at a time when the only educational system available was a few hours a day for a few months a year in home schools intent mostly on religious training. Although the Episcopal Church, viewed education “as the chief handmaiden” of its own religion, the teachers and clergy at the school created an atmosphere of rigorous learning, a place of preparation for young men and women to be sent into the broader world well equipped with a classical education.
As a boarding school for young women, Rowland Hall provided a home and an education to daughters of western miners and ranchers. St. Mark’s schools for boys and girls, a coeducational day school that began in that Main Street bowling alley, had many homes including the basement of St. Mark’s Cathedral, closed just before Utah achieved statehood, and then reopened sixty years later as St. Mark’s School for Boys. In 1964, St. Mark’s and Rowland Hall merged to become a coeducational, college-preparatory school. Although it is no longer an Episcopal school, our school today proudly honors its historic relationship with the Episcopal Church. For over a century, we occupied an historic campus on one city block in Salt Lake City’s Avenues neighborhood. Increased interest in quality education and small class size caused a surge of growth during the 1980’s, so Middle School and Upper School students were moved to a renovated public school on Lincoln Street in 1984. A new Middle School facility was completed in the summer of 1994 and is connected to the Upper School where the students share access to the Larimer Center for the Performing Arts; a library and media center, the gymnasium, cafeteria, and other educational resources. As the school’s program and student body continued to outgrow the beloved Avenues Campus, trustees purchased nine acres of land on Guardsman Way and a capital campaign was launched in 1999 to raise funds to build a new home for the school’s youngest students. As a result, the Philip G. McCarthey Campus opened its doors on December 2, 2002. In addition to its spacious classrooms and outdoor play areas, the McCarthey Campus features a computer lab, a science lab with indoor and outdoor exploration areas, the Steiner Library, St. Margaret’s Chapel, light-filled art and music studios, and a dining hall. The Beginning School is housed in its own “little red schoolhouse” adjoined by a large motor skills gymnasium just for our youngest students. The McCarthey Campus field house and soccer field are used by Lower School students for physical education and by many of the school’s sports teams for practices and games. While Rowland Hall is proud of past accomplishments, the administration, faculty and trustees continue to plan and implement improvements to insure ongoing academic excellence. This could not be accomplished without the generosity and loyalty of current and past parents and alumni. For their support – past, present and future – we are extremely grateful.
Founded in 1880 as an Episcopal boarding school, Rowland Hall once provided a home and an education to daughters of western miners and ranchers.
St. Mark’s, a coeducational day school, was established in the mid-1800s, closed just before Utah achieved statehood, and then reopened sixty years later as a boys’ day school.
In 1964, the two schools merged to become a coeducational, college-preparatory school. Although Rowland Hall is no longer an Episcopal school, it proudly honors its historic relationship with the Episcopal Church.
History Photo Gallery
Traditions
Many traditions, begun generations ago, still enthusiastically continue:
Candle and Carol, a holiday concert and service at the Cathedral Church of St. Mark, has been celebrated by Rowland Hall every December since 1922. Each division celebrates with its own winter holiday program to which parents are invited.
The Winter Sports program officially began in 1965. Starting in first grade, students ski, snowboard, and bowl their way through January and February.
Interim, a hands-on week of off-campus learning, began in 1975. In recent years, Interim has taken Upper School students all over the globe including New Orleans, where students provided relief and helped rebuild hurricane damaged neighborhoods.
The first recorded Middle School class trip was in 1987. Each Middle School grade takes a week-long fall trip today, bonding, exploring, learning.
An active Amnesty International chapter has had a home here since 1989. The school welcomed the president of Amnesty International for a lecture in spring 2004.
