This spirit has traveled with the School from the original campus on Keswick Road to Roland Avenue to University Parkway to our present campus at Chestnutwood.

Over the years, RPCS has thrived. Even during times of difficulty, RPCS's commitment to providing students with a top-notch education and the tools and knowledge necessary to pursue their passions with confidence, responsibility and an understanding of the world around them, has remained a constant.

We invite you to share in our remarkable history and in the spirit that has carried RPCS through the past century!

Hear the RPCS School Song (MP3 format):

RPCS Song (86K)
RPCS Song (40K)
RPCS Song (30K)
RPCS Song (20K)

(Larger File Size has better sound quality)

Roland Park Country School History Highlights:

1894: A neighborhood school, the Roland Park School for boys and girls, is established by Katherine and Adelaide Howard , of Richmond Virginia, at their home on Notre Dame Avenue, now Keswick Road. Money is loaned to them by the Roland Park Company.

1900: The Roland Park School, also called the Baltimore Country School for Girls, is sponsored by the Roland Park Company and directed by Corrine Jackson and Bertha Chapman.

1905: Located at 210 Roland Avenue, now 4608 Roland Avenue, the Roland Park School under Bertha Chapman, Principal, institutes a college preparatory curriculum. The school continues to admit boys to Playground through 4th Grade.

1907: Katherine Jones Harrison becomes the first graduate of now Roland Park Country School, graduating from a class of one.

1908: The School is incorporated under Maryland laws and has an independent existence, apart from the Roland Park Company. Dr. A.R.L. Dohme is the first President of the Board of Trustees.

1912: First Headmistress, Nana Duke Dushane, presides over RPCS.

1916: Due to an expanding student body, the school moves to 817 West University Parkway. An open-air school is built on the Greenway estate.

1917: During World War I the hockey field is planted with potatoes while the School flower beds are planted with peas and beans.

1918: The school expands, from seven to eight grades in the Main School. There continue to be four grades in the Primary School. RPCS's Alumnae Association is organized.

1922: Elizabeth M. Castle becomes the second Headmistress of the School.

1923: The RPCS field hockey team has their first games. The record for the season
is 2-0-1.

1932: The President of the Alumnae Association (Louise Kemp '25) is welcomed as the first alumnae representative to the Board of Trustees.

1947: The night after the June Commencement, 75% of the School is destroyed by fire. The Trustees make an immediate decision to rebuild, and additional fundraising begins to rebuild the gymnasium in memory of Amanda Lee Norris, retired Athletic Director. The school opens, as scheduled, in September.

1950: Anne Healy becomes RPCS's third Headmistress.

1961: The last class of third primary boys graduated in June.

1963 - RPCS changed its admission policy to read: “Application without discrimination for all qualified applicants" and became the first girls’ school in Maryland to be awarded a Cum Laude chapter.

1975: Headmistress Anne Healy retires after 25 years. Gordon K. Lenci becomes the School's first Headmaster. Again, RPCS decides to enroll boys in preparatory through 3rd grade. The curriculum expands with added science, electives, and college guidance.

1976: Fire breaks out in the new Upper School Wing, built in 1968, during Thanksgiving vacation. School starts the following Monday in makeshift classrooms. The Trustees are forced into a decision about whether to renovate or relocate.

1978: Chestnutwood 5204 Roland Avenue:
The Board of Trustees purchases the 21 acre estate adjacent to St. Mary's Seminary on Roland Avenue, known as Chestnutwood. The estate was formerly owned by Dr. and Mrs. A.R.L. Dohme and previously by Charles Bonaparte, the great-grandson of Jerome Bonaparte, Naploeon Bonaparte's brother.


1980: In October students march north on Roland Avenue to their new campus at 5204 Roland Avenue.

1981: Due to a drop in the male birth population and limited space, RPCS terminates admission for young boys.

1983: Margaret E. Smith becomes RPCS's fifth Head of School.

1987: RPCS, Gilman and Bryn Mawr begin to coordinate Upper School classes.

1992: Jean Waller Brune, 1960 becomes the first RPCS alumna to
be appointed Head of School.




1996: RPCS completes construction of an Arts Center, a new Upper and Middle School library, science labs, classrooms, a computer center, and an expanded athletic center.

1998: Celeste Woodward Applefeld '64 becomes the second female President of the Board of Trustees and the first alumna to hold this position.

2001: RPCS celebrates its centennial, and dedicates its new building including Lower School additions, the Smith Middle School, new science laboratories and new U.S. class rooms.