Oak Hall Then and Now
Memorabilia and The Principal’s Residence in 2013 and 1978
Oak Hall was an outgrowth of the old Baldwin Seminary founded in 1853. The school changed it’s name to Oak Hall in 1903 and moved from Makubin to Holly in 1906. Carrie Haskins Backus was the principal and ran the school for nearly thirty years before she sold it in 1918. Royal A. Moore, and his wife took over as principals in 1919. The Moore’s came from Connecticut where they had run the Wheeler School in North Stonington. Royal was a Harvard graduate. Oak Hall served as both a boarding and day prep school. In 1918 over 200 girls were boarded there. Seventy-five percent of graduates went on to college. The school acquired the principal’s residence at 528 Holly in 1927. Oak Hall celebrated a Diamond Jubilee in 1928. Three former school buildings on Holly were converted into apartments in the 1930′s.
Oak Hall
( Tune: Flow Gently, Sweet Afton)
Oak Hall, we love thee, thy praises we sing;
The best that we have a tribute we’ll bring.
Oh, proudly we’ll own thee, wherever we go,
Thy greatness and glory we always will show.
Thou, too, art our Mother, instructor of art,
And each of thy children of thee claims a part,
Oak Hall, we love thee; thy teachings shall be
Our guide and our guerdon for Life’s destiny
Oak Hall, thy gray walls in our mem’ry shall stand
The fairest, the dearest, the best in the land
Of tee have we learned to be noble and true,
Deep problems to conquer, our duty to do.
And oh all the joy and the fun we have met
Within thy dear walls we shall never forget.
Oak Hal, we love thee; thy teachings shall be
Our guide and our guerdon for Life’s destiny
