Chapin School

Chapin School is an all-girls independent day school located in Manhattan in New York City.HistoryMaria Bowen Chapin opened "Miss Chapin's School for Girls and Kindergarten for Boys and Girls" in 1901. The school originally enrolled 78 students, who were taught by seven teachers. The school itself developed from an earlier educational effort in which Chapin and Alice Wetmore began a small elementary school in 1894 which was explicitly intended to prepare young girls for success at the Brearley School, which had been created 10 years earlier. Chapin ran the educational side of “Primary Classes for Girls,” while Wetmore ran the business end. The two ended their partnership in 1901, and “Miss Chapin’s School” was born.Chapin's first high school diplomas were granted in 1908, and the last boys attended in 1917.According to archival sources recounted in And Cheer for the Gold and Green, Chapin was an early feminist and suffragette who focused heavily on character development and who intended the school to offer the same classical education as was available to boys of that era.Chapin remained headmistress until 1932. At her request, the name of the school changed to the Chapin School after she died, in 1934.Chapin is located at 100 East End Avenue, at East 84th Street. Chapin's school was originally located at 12 West 47th Street. In 1905, the school moved to East 58th Street. In 1910, it moved to East 57th Street. The school has maintained its current location on the Upper East Side since 1928.