St. Paul's School

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St. Paul's School (also known as SPS) is a college-preparatory, coeducational boarding school in Concord, New Hampshire, affiliated with the Episcopal Church. The 2000acre New Hampshire campus currently serves 531 students, who come from all over the United States and the world.St. Paul's is a member of the Eight Schools Association and was formerly a member of the Independent School League, the oldest independent school athletic association in the United States.HistoryIn 1856, Harvard University-educated physician and Boston Brahmin George Cheyne Shattuck, inspired by the educational theories of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, turned his country home in the hamlet of Millville, New Hampshire into a school for boys. Shattuck wanted his boys educated in the austere, bucolic countryside. A newly appointed board of trustees chose Henry Coit, a 24-year-old clergyman, to preside over the school for its first 39 years. In addition to Shattuck's two boys and Coit and his wife there was one other student. The original location was 50 acres, but over the years surrounding lands were acquired.Throughout the latter half of the 19th century, the school expanded. In 1884, it built the first squash courts in America. During the infancy of ice hockey in the United States, the school established itself as a powerhouse that often played and beat collegiate teams at Harvard and Yale. Its Lower School Pond once held nine hockey rinks. By 1895, when Coit died, the school had 35 teachers and 345 students.