The Miller School of Albemarle is a co-educational private preparatory school located in Albemarle County, Virginia. The school was founded in 1878 with a bequest from Samuel Miller, who provided for the majority of his estate to be used for the establishment of a boarding school for girls and boys to be located on 1,600 acres near his birthplace in Albemarle County. The main building was designed by architect Albert Lybrock.
History
Miller School was founded in 1878 with a bequest of $1.1 million from Samuel Miller, who grew up near the grounds where the school is now situated. His will provided for the majority of his estate to be used for the establishment of a boarding school for orphaned children, a school to be located near his birthplace in Albemarle County. By 1874, following Mr. Miller's 1869 death and the resolution of several legal disputes, architects and builders began designing and constructing The Miller Manual Labor School. This work culminated in August, 1878, with a grand opening and dedication of the central portion of "Old Main", an impressive structure of Victorian architecture, around which much of Miller School life still revolves. "Old Main" is now on the Virginia Historic Landmarks Registry
Timeline
1878: The first curriculum was designed; students received instruction in the classics as well agriculture and such trades as carpentry and metal work. 1882: The first baseball team won its initial game, a 55-0 victory over Fishburne Military School. 1883: Thomas Edison's company designed and supervised the installation of Miller School's first electric power plant, two Edison Style "K" dynamos and 250 incandescent light bulbs. 1884: Girls board at the school.
1927: With mounting operational expenses and little fund-raising, Miller School began to cut its programs; the girls program was the first to go, not returning until the early 1990s. 1939: Began to phase out its farming operations and, instead, leased the land to generate income. 1948: Won the annual interschool boxing championship. 1950: Began to charge tuition to supplement its trust funds, which no longer generate sufficient yearly revenues to support the school. 1951: As military schools reach new heights of popularity in post-World War II America, Miller School added military programs 1964: 224 boarding boys were enrolled at Miller School, many of them 5th and 6th graders 1967: School was racially integrated. 1984: Miller became a founding member of the Virginia Association of Independent Schools and charted a course toward a college preparatory curriculum. 1992: The school accepted boy and girl day students. 1994: A girls boarding program began; the military program was de-emphasized (and eventually eliminated). 1999: New state legislation was passed to give Miller School more flexibility and authority in the appointment of members of its own board of trustees. 2001: A student was awarded the first-ever Emily Couric Award for Leadership, given annually to a young woman in central Virginia who demonstrated by her good deeds the high ideals, work ethic, and leadership qualities of the late State Sen. Emily Couric 2003: A Point Guard was named VIS Division II Player of the Year. 2004: The school adopted a Strategic Plan, expanded its Board of Trustees, and recommitted to a college preparatory curriculum, and set up a Development Office.