Originally known as
Oak Lane Country Day School, Oak Lane was established in 1916 and for 44 years was located in
Cheltenham Township just north of
Philadelphia on Oak Lane Road (not to be confused with a nearby but discontiguous Philadelphia street named Oak Lane). The school's founders used the model of the
Progressive Education Movement to support a religiously, racially and economically diverse student population. Oak Lane's first head of school was Francis Marion Garver who later became director of the elementary division of the School of Education at the
University of Pennsylvania. The first chairman of Oak Lane's board of trustees was Dr.
Morris Jastrow, Jr., the great scholar of Middle East languages and librarian of the
University of Pennsylvania. Other trustees included members of prominent Philadelphia families in the early 1900s: Milton Sloss; Jay F. Schamberg, M.D.; Jerome J. Rothschild; Maurice Fleisher;
Samuel Simeon Fels;
Albert M. Greenfield;
Lessing J. Rosenwald; Joseph Snellenburg;
Alice Fleisher Liveright; and Judge
Horace Stern. In 1921, Francis Mitchell Froelicher became headmaster. Froelicher came from the
Park School of Baltimore that was founded in 1912 by his father, Professor Hans Froelicher of
Goucher College. Professor Froelicher was one of the leaders of the Progressive Education movement in America and served as a consultant to Oak Lane's founders in 1915. Francis Froelicher was elected president of the
Progressive Education Association of America while he was Oak Lane's headmaster, and upon his departure in 1927, he went on to found the
Fountain Valley School of Colorado. In 1929, funds provided by Mr. and Mrs.
Leopold Stokowski, world-renowned orchestra conductor and Oak Lane parents, allowed the construction of a nursery school wing. Architects
George Howe and
William Lescaze were hired for this building project, which was the first of many under their new firm. Its
"International Style" attracted worldwide acclaim. Many building concepts appropriate to young children were incorporated in its plans, such as smaller doorways and steps, cork flooring, special furniture and protected outdoor areas. During the
Depression, Oak Lane began to experience financial difficulties and diminishing enrollment which opened the door for
Temple University to consider acquiring the school. Temple, on the lookout for opportunities to develop a laboratory-demonstration school, learned of Oak Lane's situation and it was not long before a merger between the two became official in April 1931. Oak Lane's new name,
Oak Lane Country Day School of Temple University, confirmed this affiliation. Part of the agreement was the recognition of Oak Lane as an educational enterprise for the purpose of developing the best progressive method of education, and for use as an observation school to train teachers. Under John H. Niemeyer's eleven-year tenure from 1945 to 1956, Oak Lane became part of the School Affiliation Program of the
American Friends Service Committee. An exchange of
pen pal letters and group projects formed the base of the affiliation program between Oak Lane and
La Maison d'Enfants de Sèvres,
France, a school just outside
Paris whose purpose was to help children orphaned during
World War II or whose parents were no longer able to care for them. Members of the faculties of the two schools exchanged visits and gave the children an opportunity to help understand better the world in which they lived. In conjunction with this program, the 4th-6th grades at Oak Lane learned
French, the language of their overseas friends. Niemeyer left Oak Lane to become President of
Bank Street College in
New York. In June 1960, Temple University determined that it could no longer support Oak Lane Country Day School because of mounting debt and other issues, and the property on which it stood was sold to a developer. Now existing on its own merit due to the strength of trustees, faculty and parents, the school became incorporated as
Oak Lane Day School and reconvened in the fall in a former public school building at Springhouse Lane and Easton Road in
Glenside, Pennsylvania. Niemeyer served as Board of Trustees chair and school spokesman. Proceedings were begun in 1963 to purchase a permanent site for the school on the former John Cadwalader estate in
Whitpain Township, Pennsylvania. In 1964, ground was broken on the old apple orchard on the grounds of the estate for a building known as the Perch Hankin Classroom Building. In 1965, the School moved to its current location, and as much as possible, the existing structures and ground were utilized in a manner consistent with the school's educational philosophy. In 2002 and 2003, the Leah Cutler Gymnasium was designed and built. James Bradberry Architects received an
AIA Honor Award for their architectural design. In April 2009, Oak Lane announced that it would be selling its property with the intent to move to a yet-to-be-determined location following the 2009–10 school year. However, in October 2009, it was announced that the board of trustees decided that it would not be feasible to keep the school going beyond the 2009–10 school year and it would close at the end of the school year. The last graduates presented a gift of running the school website for the ten years after the school closed. == Distinguished alumni ==