History of the School

John and Abby MacDuffie founded The MacDuffie School in 1890 as a school for girls. Harvard and Radcliffe graduates respectively, they hoped the school would provide young women the same access to excellence in education they had experienced. Committed to furthering recent reforms in the education of women, the MacDuffies established their school as a model for other schools. Their commitment to education for girls, however, did not prevent the school from running a co-educational country day school for several decades early in the century.

By the mid-1920s, The MacDuffie School enjoyed a strong academic reputation, particularly in the Springfield area. In 1936, the MacDuffies turned the leadership of the school over to their son Malcolm.

At the beginning of World War II, Ralph and Cleminette Downing Rutenber became Head and Associate Head, respectively, of the School. Dr. Rutenber's tenure as Headmaster (1941-1972) was long and fruitful. MacDuffie's reputation grew in the Springfield area and extended across the nation and abroad.

Much of MacDuffie's current campus was developed between 1956 and 1978. Several large homes and an athletic field were acquired. Rutenber Hall, the main classroom facility, and Downing Gymnasium were built in 1963. By 1978, the MacDuffie School owned all the buildings on Ames Hill Drive, constituting the secluded, unified 15-acre campus. Following the Rutenbers' retirement in 1972, the School's ensuing heads, faculty and Board built on the excellent academic and co-curricular program offerings and increased the diversity of the student body. In 1983, the School purchased the Springfield Red Cross building on Maple Street which has since become the Fine Arts building. In 2005, the School acquired 334 Maple Street, the Rutenbers' private residence, through the generosity of Anne Rutenber Clifton '56 and George and Peggy Beaver Bissell '56. This gift expanded MacDuffie's campus to nearly 20 acres and now serves as the Head's residence and as an Alumni House.

Michael L. Cornog was Head from 1988 until 1999. During his tenure, MacDuffie added a 6th grade and created a fully integrated middle school curriculum taught by teams of 6th, 7th, and 8th grade teachers. This curriculum is exceptionally meaningful and appropriate to the needs of middle school children.

During 1990-1991, MacDuffie's Centennial, the School again admitted young men, but this time to the day-school program. In 1992 the traditional girls' boarding program became the Ames Hill program, consisting of international and American students who reside with faculty and staff families in former dorms in a homestyle atmosphere. Young men now represent nearly 50% of the total MacDuffie student body.

Since 1999, Kathryn Post Gibson has been Head of MacDuffie. Ms. Gibson began her career as a teacher of Russian and French at the Albany Academy for Girls and then spent more than twenty years in higher education administration at the University at Albany and Springfield College and in government service at the National Endowment for the Humanities. The parent of a MacDuffie graduate ('01) and a Trustee from 1997-1999, Ms. Gibson is dedicated to advancing MacDuffie's academic, athletic, and arts programs by increasing its technical and instructional resources and providing faculty with opportunities for professional development, while enhancing the School's reputation locally and internationally.

Throughout its history, MacDuffie has adapted to the circumstances of the day, changing economic times, educational needs, and social pressures. Through its many changes, the school has remained committed to its mission of providing young scholars with strong academic challenges in a community based on diversity, tolerance, and individual respect.