| Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School | |
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| Address | |
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| 101 North Warson Road St. Louis, MO, 63124 United States |
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| Information | |
| Type | Private |
| Established | 1859-Mary Institute 1917-St. Louis Country Day School 1992-MICDS |
| Founder | William Greenleef Eliot |
| Head of school | Lisa Lyle |
| Faculty | 171 |
| Grades | JK - 12 |
| Enrollment | approx. 1210 (total), 599 (9-12) |
| Campus | Suburban, 100 acres |
| Color(s) | Cardinal Red, Forest Green |
| Mascot | Ram |
| Rival | John Burroughs School |
| Website | http://www.micds.org |
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Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School or "MICDS" is a secular, co-educational, private school for about 1,200 students in grades JK-12, separated into three different sections: JK-4th grade (lower school), 5th-8th grade (middle school), and 9th-12th grade (upper school). Its 100 acres (404700 m²) campus[1][2] is located in the St. Louis suburb of Ladue.
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William Greenleef Eliot, founder and chancellor of Washington University, established MICDS's predecessor institutions in the 1850s as part of the university. A boys' school, Smith Academy, was founded in 1854, and was later attended by Eliot's grandson, the future poet T. S. Eliot. A sister school for girls, Mary Institute, was founded in 1859 and was named for Eliot's deceased daughter. In its early years, Mary Institute was located at three different locations in the City of St. Louis, the third of which was at the corner of Lake and Waterman, in the building that is now New City School.
Smith Academy closed in June 1917; most of its students transferred to a successor school, independent of a university, which opened that September in northwestern St. Louis County. Called Saint Louis Country Day School, it was set up along the lines prescribed by the Country Day School movement. Saint Louis Country Day's campus was in a bucolic environment reached by rail that seemed far from the urban grit of the old Smith Academy.
Mary Institute moved to its Ladue campus in 1931 and became independent of Washington University in 1949. By the 1950s, the tranquility of the Country Day campus was disrupted by the growth of the adjacent Lambert-Saint Louis International Airport. Saint Louis Country Day School built a new campus next to Mary Institute, sold its old land to the airport and moved to Ladue in 1958.[3] Eliot's grandson, Nobel laureate T. S. Eliot, who attended Mary Institute's kindergarten and Smith Academy, spoke at Mary Institute's centennial in 1959.
Although various connections, including theatrical cooperation, had existed between Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School for years, academic coordination between Mary Institute and Country Day began during the 1970s and culminated in the 1992 merger of the schools. Saint Louis Country Day headmaster John Johnson, who coordinated the merger, became head of the combined schools, reprising the role of William Greenleaf Eliot almost a century and a half earlier.
The school has claimed 24 state championships and 41 district championships in the past decade.[4]
MICDS has a standing athletic rivalry with nearby John Burroughs School. Both schools also maintain a cross-state rivalry with The Pembroke Hill School in Kansas City. Each year before the weekend when all of the teams play Burroughs, there is a traditional bonfire and pep rally to inspire team spirit, part of Spirit week that includes in-school pep rallies, spirit day, where you can dress in any outfit;crazy or normal, that has the school's colors. There are also many other activities such as special gym or pajama day as part of the week.
Coordinates: 38°39′34″N 90°24′00″W / 38.659561°N 90.40°W
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