History

In 1886 Miss Mary Pickard Winsor started a six-month school in Boston, beginning with eight girls in a private home on Beacon Hill. The school grew quickly and began sending graduates to college in 1895.

Unlike many girls' schools of the era, Winsor persevered. Today, Winsor remains a school with high aspirations and a clear sense of purpose, now living and evolving in a new century. It is a complex and active community, shaped by its history, inspiring faculty and talented students.

The Winsor School's Timeline

1886

Mary Pickard Winsor opens a six-month school for eight girls at 334 Boylston Street in Boston’s Back Bay, the first of six locations in various townhouses in the neighborhood. Ahead of her time, Miss Winsor wanted to prepare women to be self-supporting and hoped they would be competent, responsible and generous-minded. By 1900 the student body grows to 99 girls.
1907

A group of parents and other supporters of girls’ education forms the Winsor Corporation and purchases land on the Fenway. The incorporators hire Boston architect, R. Clipston Sturgis, to build "the most perfect schoolhouse," and they ask Miss Winsor to head the school. President Eliot of Harvard, an original incorporator and grandfather of two Winsor girls, suggests the motto: "A sound mind in a sound body."
1910

Miss Winsor’s School relocates from the Back Bay to the new building in the Longwood area and opens with 225 students. It includes a library, science laboratories, art studios, a gymnasium and swimming pool. The 1910 graduating class presents the Lamp and the banner to go to the new school building.
1910

Until the move in 1910, the school had been known as Miss Winsor's School. When leaders suggested The Winsor School as the name of the newly incorporated institution, Miss Winsor questioned why "this big enterprise" should be "tied to the name of one small individual." The issue was finally settled when students and members of The Graduate Club petitioned the incorporators.
1915

The first edition of the student-run publication, the “Lamp,” is published in December.
1918

“School City” student government is started to teach students about civic leadership.
1923

Winsor acquires the land owned by the Longwood Cricket Club when the club moves to Chestnut Hill. In 1924, the first Gymnasium (“cage”) is built on the former Cricket Club land.
1931

The Class IV Shakespeare play tradition begins with the production of “Twelfth Night.”
1936

The first Class banner is created for the Class of 1936.
1943

Winsor opens a five-day boarding residence for approximately 14 students at 12 Hawes Street in Brookline, within walking distance of school. It operates until 1954 and the building is sold in 1955.
1963

The Franklin Dexter Wing (“New Wing”) opens as the first addition to the School, including a new dining room, kitchen, and five classrooms.
1970

The first African American graduates from Winsor.
1973

The first issue of the joint Winsor-Belmont Hill newspaper, “The Panel” is published. In 2019, Winsor students rename the paper “The Banner”.
1983

Pilgrim Road is closed from Short Street to Longwood Avenue, uniting the campus. Girls no longer have to run across the street to the gymnasium.
1984

Winsor begins offering a semester at the Mountain School, the first of many off-campus study opportunities..
1994

The first “Under the Lights” celebrates the start of night-time playing opportunities on the school fields. The student body grows to over 400. In 2008, new turf fields are installed to replace the grass fields.
2004

Peter Hall opens, offering a new space for the dining room and kitchen, and adding science laboratories, faculty offices, a photography laboratory and faculty workroom.
2011

Winsor celebrates its 125th anniversary with hundreds of alumnae, students, past and present faculty, families and friends.
2015

The Lubin-O’Donnell Center for the performing arts, athletics and wellness opens. The LOC sits on the footprint of the original 1920s gymnasium and provides state-of-the-art facilities to match Winsor’s 21st century education.
2016

Sarah Pelmas begins her leadership role as Winsor's eighth head of school.