DETROIT COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL
History
DetroitCountry Day Schoolwas founded by F. Alden Shaw in 1914, beginning with an enrollment of four boys. The school has preserved its original name for historic reasons: “Detroit” because it was founded in this city on West Ferry and because it still serves the metropolitan Detroit area, “Country” because the school provides an invigorating atmosphere separate from city center surroundings, and “Day” because it is a day school encouraging close family ties.
DetroitCountry Day School became an independent school in 1942 when Mr. Shaw donated his proprietary school to a non-profit educational trust incorporated by the State of Michigan. The educational corporation is governed by a board of trustees who serve without compensation.
True to the school’s motto, Mens Sana In Corpore Sano (A Sound Mind In A Sound Body), the school’s traditional focus on a well-rounded, liberal arts education has provided a spirit of achievement and excellence where the scholar-athlete-artist can thrive.
From the school’s original site on West Ferry, the school moved several times until locating at its current main campus at West Thirteen Mile and Lahser Roads in the Village of Beverly Hills in 1957. In 1975, the Village Campus property was acquired at Bradway and Lahser Roads in Bloomfield Hills. This property now accommodates the Junior School, grades three through five. In 1986, the Maple Road Campus property was purchased and became the home of the Lower School, grades pre-Kindergarten through two. The Middle and Upper Schools remain on the main campus in Beverly Hills. The Lower, Junior, Middle, and Upper School campuses now occupy a total of 76 acres.
Girls were first admitted in 1940 to grades Kindergarten through six and in 1972 coeducation was expanded to grades seven through 12. In 1973, the school’s first female scholar-athletes were graduated from Detroit Country Day School. Today, young women represent close to half of the entire student body.