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Republished from: Montclair Neighbors. December 2019
Written by Helen Fallon, MHC Trustee
In 2020, Lacordaire Academy celebrates 100 years of educating students. Tres bon!
Opened in September, 1920 by the Dominican Sisters of Caldwell as a French-English boarding school for girls — with just two students — today’s enrollment includes 170 co-ed student in the Lower and Middle School grades of K-8 and 75 young women in the Upper School. The students hail from more than 35 towns and seven counties throughout New Jersey. Until 1924, the school even offered students a boarding option!
It’s not clear why the Dominican Sisters began this school in Montclair instead of on their Caldwell campus. Montclair’s reputation as a location of outstanding boarding and private schools, as well as the town’s convenient access via train and trolley may have been factors.
Caption: Advertisement, August 4, 1923, Montclair Times
The school was named for Henri Dominique Lacordaire (1802-1861), a preacher credited with restoring the Dominican Order in France after the French Revolution; he was renowned for oratories delivered at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. In addition to a faith-based education, Lacordaire’s legacy is evident in the French language instruction in grades K-5 (additional language options are offered in upper grades) and the curriculum’s emphasis on public speaking.
The Dominican Sisters who teach at Lacordaire originally resided in the Convent, a stately home at the northwestern corner of Lorraine Avenue and Park Street; in the early years, classes were also held there. Built in 1894 for Dr. Morgan Ayres, a prominent Montclair citizen, the Queen Anne style home features a deep porch, projecting bays, gables, dormers, and a castle-like turret. Inside, the elegant first floor center hall features a spectacular spindle staircase. According to the 1982 “Preservation Montclair” Inventory of Historic Properties, “at the time this structure was erected, it was considered one of the finest residences in Upper Montclair.” This Convent building, which anchors the school’s campus, now houses administrative offices and was recently renamed James Hall.
Caption: Lacordaire’s Queen Anne-style Convent now houses administrative offices and was recently renamed James Hall. (Photo by Helen Fallon)
As enrollment expanded over the years, classes moved beyond the Convent into the property’s original and expanded Carriage House and to the high school constructed on the campus in the early 1960s.
Lacordaire is planning a variety of special events in coming months to mark their centennial.
Pour les 100 ans à venir! (To the next 100 years!)