Manlius Pebble Hill

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Manlius Pebble Hill School

Think. Imagine. Learn. Grow.
Established	1970
School type	Private
Religious affiliation	none
Principal	Baxter Ball
Location	DeWitt, NY, USA
Campus	Suburban, 26 acres 9 buildings
Enrollment	588
Faculty	100
Average class size	12-16 students
Athletics	17 NYSPHSAA Section III varsity teams
Mascot	Trojan

The Manlius Pebble Hill School (also known as MPH) is a non-sectarian, coeducational, independent Pre-K through 12 school in DeWitt, New York. The school is a result of a merger in 1970 between the Manlius School (founded 1869) and the Pebble Hill School (founded 1926).

1 The Manlius School
2 Pebble Hill School
3 The Merger
4 Today
5 Notable Alumni
6 External links

[edit] The Manlius School

The Manlius School was founded in Manlius, New York as the St. John's School by Bishop Frederic D. Huntington, of the Episcopal Diocese of Central New York. However, by 1880 attendance had fallen to the point where the school became insolvent. As a result, in 1881 it was reorganized as the St. John's Military School.

By 1887 the reorganized St. John's again found itself with enrollment and financial problems, and the trustees looked for someone who could not only turn the school around, but also assume all financial risks. This person was General William Verbeck, who at the time was the co-principal of a military academy in Aurora, NY. Starting off with approximately 18 returning students, he had raised enrollment to 120 within five years. By the time of his death in 1930, what was now known as The Manlius School had become one of the top military schools in the United States.

[edit] Pebble Hill School

The Pebble Hill School was founded in 1927 as a non-sectarian country day school for boys. In early 1927 a piece of property in the Pebble Hill section of Orrville (now part of the town of DeWitt) was purchased, and the school opened on September 20th with an enrollment of 49 boys.

Prior to 1929 all classes at Pebble Hill were held in what was known as "the Farmhouse." This building is the basis for the current MPH logo and currently houses the administrative offices of Manlius Pebble Hill. It is also the oldest building in the Town of DeWitt.

[edit] The Merger

By the late 1960s enrollment at military schools was falling off as more and more people became disenchanted with the Vietnam War. The Manlius School did not escape this trend, and once again financial difficulties were on the horizon. At the same time, Pebble Hill was running out of room for the many students who were enrolled there. In 1970 the two schools merged to become Manlius Pebble Hill School.

At first the newly merged school used both campuses, with the DeWitt campus being used for the Lower School and the Manlius campus used for the Upper School. However, by 1973 it became impractical to run two campuses, and so the Manlius campus was closed and sold to a private developer. At that time all MPH classes were moved to the DeWitt campus.

[edit] Today

Today Manlius Pebble Hill has an enrollment of approximately 600 students and counts among its alumni members of both predecessor schools as well as those who attended MPH.

The current headmaster is Baxter Ball. During his 15-year tenure a great deal of expansion and renovation has taken place on the DeWitt campus, including two new buildings: The McNeil Science and Communications Center built in 1994, and the Mezzalingua Humanities Center, built in 1999. In addition, a new Center for Early Learning ("The Incubator"), was opened in September 2006.