How We Began

Waynflete School was founded in 1897 by Agnes Lowell and Caroline Crisfield, who came to Portland from the Ogontz School in Philadelphia. During a trip to England, the founders became interested in 15th-century statesman and educator William Waynflete. Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor of England, he founded Magdalen College at Oxford as well as an elementary school at his nameplace, "Wainfleet." From this came the name for the new school in Portland, which opened with forty-nine students, including six boarders.

In an age when private schools in the Portland area were plentiful, Waynflete fast became the school of choice for families seeking strong academic preparation as well as grounding in the arts. And, contrary to popular belief, Waynflete was never entirely an all-girls school, admitting small numbers of boys even from its earliest days.

In 1912, to accommodate the school's rapid growth, Lowell and Crisfield bought the Horace Dudley estate located between Danforth and Spring streets near the Western Promenade. Classrooms were constructed in the nearby stables and carriage house, known today as Founders Hall. The estate's lawns and gardens made a fine playground and an idyllic setting for the annual May Festival and other budding traditions that continue to be celebrated nearly a century later.

Lowell and Crisfield retired from Waynflete in 1924. In their 27 years of meritorious service to the school and community, they assembled a strong, dedicated faculty, graduating students who went on to become leaders in social welfare, media, business, literary circles, sports, teaching, music and the arts, church work, environmental education, and philanthropy.