Moses Brown School
Prep school in Providence, Rhode Island, US
title: "Moses Brown School" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["educational-institutions-established-in-1784", "1784-establishments-in-rhode-island", "quaker-schools-in-rhode-island", "school-buildings-on-the-national-register-of-historic-places-in-rhode-island", "high-schools-in-providence,-rhode-island", "private-high-schools-in-rhode-island", "private-middle-schools-in-rhode-island", "preparatory-schools-in-rhode-island", "historic-american-buildings-survey-in-rhode-island", "national-register-of-historic-places-in-providence,-rhode-island", "moses-brown-school-alumni"] description: "Prep school in Providence, Rhode Island, US" topic_path: "society/education" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses_Brown_School" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Prep school in Providence, Rhode Island, US ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox school"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Moses Brown School |
| logo | Moses Brown School logo.png |
| image | Moses Brown School sign.jpg |
| image_size | 250px |
| address | 250 Lloyd Avenue |
| city | Providence |
| state | Rhode Island |
| country | United States |
| coordinates | |
| type | Private |
| religion | Quaker |
| established | |
| motto | Verum Honorem ("For the Honor of Truth") |
| head | Katie Titus |
| faculty | 216 |
| ratio | 8:1 |
| athletics | 30 sports |
| mascot | Quaker |
| logo_size | 250px |
| head_name | Head of school |
| campus | Urban, 33 acre |
| enrollment | 754 total |
| class | 13 students |
| colors | White and Navy Blue |
| homepage | |
| name | Moses Brown School |
| embed | yes |
| location | 250 Lloyd Avenue |
| Providence, Rhode Island | |
| locmapin | Rhode Island#USA |
| built | 1819 |
| architect | Greene, John Holden; Brown, Joseph |
| architecture | Colonial Revival, Second Empire |
| added | July 24, 1980 |
| area | 30 acre |
| refnum | 80000088 |
| :: |
| name = Moses Brown School
| logo = Moses Brown School logo.png
| image = Moses Brown School sign.jpg
| image_size = 250px
| address = 250 Lloyd Avenue
| city = Providence
| state = Rhode Island
| country = United States
| coordinates =
| type = Private
| religion = Quaker
| established =
| motto = Verum Honorem ("For the Honor of Truth")
| head = Katie Titus
| faculty = 216
| ratio = 8:1
| athletics = 30 sports
| mascot = Quaker
| background =
| logo_size = 250px
| head_name = Head of school
| campus = Urban, 33 acre
| enrollment = 754 total
| class = 13 students
| colors = White and Navy Blue
| homepage =
| name = Moses Brown School
| embed = yes
| nrhp_type =
| image =
| caption =
| location = 250 Lloyd Avenue
Providence, Rhode Island
| locmapin = Rhode Island#USA
| built = 1819
| architect = Greene, John Holden; Brown, Joseph
| architecture = Colonial Revival, Second Empire
| added = July 24, 1980
| area = 30 acre
| refnum = 80000088
Moses Brown School is an independent, Quaker, college preparatory school, currently with 754 students, located in Providence, Rhode Island, offering pre-kindergarten through secondary school classes. Founded in 1784 by Moses Brown, a Quaker abolitionist, it is one of the oldest preparatory schools in the country. The school motto is Verum Honorem, "True Honor", and the school song is "In the Shadow of the Elms", a reference to the large grove of elm bushes that still surrounds the school.
Founder
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Moses_Brown_portrait_painting.jpg" caption="Moses Brown"] ::
Moses Brown (1738–1836) was the school's founder and a member of the Brown family, a powerful mercantile family of New England. He was a pioneering advocate for the abolition of slavery, a co-founder of Brown University, and an industrialist.
History
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Friends_meeting_house_in_Portsmouth_RI.jpg" caption="First meeting place of the school from 1784 to 1788"] ::
In 1777, a committee of New England Yearly Meeting took up the idea for a school to educate young Quakers in New England. The school opened in 1784 at Portsmouth Friends Meeting House in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. Given the shortage of both students and teachers in the years following the American Revolutionary War, the Yearly Meeting decided to close the school four years later.
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Moses_Brown_School_in_Providence_RI.jpg" caption="Main building in Providence"] ::
As treasurer of the school fund, Brown worked to restart the school. He persuaded the Yearly Meeting to revive it by donating land in Providence as a site for the school. Newly built, the school reopened in 1819 in Providence. Moses Brown joined with his son Obadiah and his son-in-law William Almy to pay for the construction of the first building, which still serves as the main building of the school. Obadiah Brown also left $100,000 (equivalent to $ million in ) in his will to the school, a sum unheard of at the time for a school endowment.
In 1904, the school was renamed as "Moses Brown School" to honor its benefactor and advocate. It offered an "upper" and "lower" school for younger boys.
The Quakers were early advocates of women's education, and Moses Brown School was co-educational. However, in 1926 it became a boys-only boarding school, as was the fashion for prestigious college-prep schools in the United States at the time. It again became coed in 1976. Well-known faculty over the years included the twin Quaker educators Alfred and Albert Smiley in the mid-Nineteenth Century and children's author Scott Corbett in the 1960s. It transitioned in the 1980s from a boarding school to a private day school.
Academics
Ninth and tenth grade students are offered limited flexibility in their courses, in order to expose them to a varied selection of topics. English is the only subject mandated through four years in the Upper School. Students must study a single language for three years, and lab sciences for two. There is a requirement for a comparative religions class. Students are also required to take a minimum of two semesters of fine art courses. Students are required to participate in varied school activities, whether athletic, theater, dance, or community service.
In popular culture
In the 1960s, Moses Brown's Field House was the testing ground for AstroTurf. The school briefly made headlines during the January 2015 nor'easter when Headmaster Matt Glendinning released a music video called "School Is Closed", in which he parodied "Let It Go" from the 2013 film Frozen.
The school is mentioned in H. P. Lovecraft's novella The Case of Charles Dexter Ward as the alma mater of the titular villain.
Facilities
Moses Brown School is located on 33 acre on Providence's East Side.
- Middle House
- Gifford House
- Friends Hall
- Jones Library
- Collis Science Center – Upper School science complex on the ground floor of Friends Hall.
- Dwares Family Student Center
- Hoffman House and Lubrano Science Classroom
- Fischer Ricci Family Instrumental Music Center
- Waughtel-Howe Field House
- Gorgi Family Squash and Education Center
- Campanella Field
- Milot Field – Athletic fields belonging to Moses Brown School in Rehoboth, Massachusetts.
- Woodman Center – performing arts facility, connected to the current library by a sky bridge. It was designed by DBVW Architects. |image = File:Moses Brown School panorama.jpg |height = 230 |caption = Panoramic view of the Moses Brown School main building}}
Alumni
- Gabe Amo, politician who won the 1st Congressional seat primary (2023)
- Buddy Cianci, politician and former Providence Mayor, radio host, and convicted felon.
- Sophia Gorriaran (class of 2023), track and field athlete
- Nicholas Gilson (class of 2007), founder and CEO of Gilson Snow.
- Willem Van Lancker (class of 2006), entrepreneur and product designer.
- Dean Woodman (class of 1946), philanthropist and investor.
References
References
- {{NRISref
- "History". Moses Brown School.
- "MB at-a-glance". Moses Brown School.
- (6 Jul 1914). "Moses Brown School". [[The Independent (New York).
- Tyler, Betty. (21 Mar 2009). "Smiley twins: the early years". [[Digital First Media]].
- Glauber, Bill. "25 YEARS ON THE CARPET Widespread use of artificial turf hasn't yet swept controversies under the rug".
- (27 January 2015). "Rhode Island School Parodies 'Let It Go' In Elsa-Fied Snow Day Announcement". Huffington Post.
- (2005). "Tales". Library of America.
- Barry, Dan. (2016-01-29). "Vincent A. Cianci Jr., Celebrated and Scorned Ex-Mayor of Providence, R.I., Dies at 74 (Published 2016)". The New York Times.
- "Sophia Gorriaran - Stats".
- "Students Consult Gilson Snow on How to Tell Their Authentic, Unique Story".
- (Fall 2014). "MB Cupola fall 2014 / winter 2015: Design Thinking". Moses Brown School.
- Hamburger, Ellis. (2014-11-05). "The future of books is on your phone, not your tablet".
- Pina, Tatiana. (October 18, 2013). "Alum gives Moses Brown $5 million for performing-arts, community center". LMG Rhode Island Holdings, Inc.
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