Founding
The School's Founding Rev. Dr. George E. Quaile founded Salisbury School in 1901 after serving as headmaster of St. Austin’s School on Staten Island in New York from 1894 to 1901. Dr. Quaile was a rare man of moral leadership and broad vision. He purchased the orginal tract of land amid the rolling Berkshires for the present site of Salisbury School, selecting property that was originally a farm. The existing Main Building was constructed under Dr. Quaile’s direction and was the start of Salisbury School in 1901 as an independent college preparatory school.
After his death in 1934, Dr. Quaile was succeeded by his son, Emerson B. Quaile, a Salisbury graduate who was a Master of Latin at neighboring Hotchkiss at the time of his appointment. The Depression years stalled the growth of the School as Emerson Quaile had the arduous task of maintaining traditional academic standards in a lean era when student enrollment sharply declined. His untimely death in 1942 ended the impressive career of this dedicated headmaster.
Campus Expansion
The Rev. George D. Langdon succeeded Emerson Quaile in 1942. With the blessing of the Board of Trustees, Mr. Langdon initiated an expansion program which resulted in a complex of school buildings. A greatly increased enrollment and a maturing of the academic program accompanied this development of the physical plant. After Mr. Langdon’s retirement in 1965, growth continued under his successor, the Rev. Edwin M. Ward.
Traditions and Values
During the sixteen years of Rev. Ward’s headmastership, Salisbury adhered to its traditions and values during a period of turbulence in American education and emerged as one of the finest all-male schools in America. Upon Rev. Ward’s departure in 1981, the Reverend Peter W. Sipple was appointed Salisbury’s fifth headmaster in its eighty-year history. During the 1981-1982 academic year, the Reverend Raymond Nelson served as interim headmaster until Mr. Sipple had completed his tenure at Oregon Episcopal School.
Centennial Celebrated
Mr. Richard T. Flood, Jr., dean of the school at Noble and Greenough School, was appointed Salisbury’s sixth headmaster in 1988. Under Mr. Flood’s fifteen years at the School, Salisbury celebrated its Centennial (in 2001) and saw extensive building in conjunction with that celebration. Most notable were the building of the Wachtmeister Mathematics and Science Building, the Centennial Humanities Building (which also includes the Phinny Library, the Ruger Fine Arts Center, and the Tremaine Art Gallery), and athletic fields on the north side of Route 44.
Salisbury Today
In November of 2002, Mr. Chisholm S. Chandler was appointed to succeed Mr. Flood. Having served the Salisbury School admissions and college offices successfully after he graduated from Brown University, Mr. Chandler became the seventh headmaster in July of 2003. Under his leadership, recent additions to campus include Ward House, housing 44 students and six faculty families (fall 2004), four single-family faculty homes (fall 2006), Wachtmeister Turf Field (fall 2007), a new boathouse (spring 2008) and a state-of-the-art athletic center (winter 2009).