The Storm King School began in 1867 as the Cornwall Heights School. Louis P. Ledoux, a graduate of
Amherst College and Union Theological Seminary, and a pastor of the Cornwall Presbyterian Church, founded the school after requests that he establish "a Christian school in the home of a Christian gentleman." Ledoux purchased Wood Farm on the northern slope of Storm King Mountain, where he prepared young men for New England colleges until 1872, when he sold his interest in the school to Oren S. Cobb. Cobb was headmaster for 15 years until 1889, when the school was sold to Carlos H. Stone. During Stone's 29-year leadership, the school saw much growth, including increased enrollment and an enlarged physical plant. In 1914, the school was incorporated under New York State law and renamed the Stone School. In 1923, during the tenure of headmaster Alvan P. Duerr, the school's name was changed to Storm King School. In 1928, the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York chartered SKS as a tax-exempt educational institution. From 1932 to 1951, throughout the austere years of the Depression and World War II, SKS was led by headmaster Anson Barker and benefited from the patronage and participation of several prominent families who lived on the mountain, including the Abbotts, Ledouxs, Matthiesens, Partridges, Smidts and Stillmans. Margaret Clark, the school's first female teacher (primarily in art), retired in 1938 after over 40 years at SKS. Her design of the school's crest, initially created for the student publication
The Echo, was later adopted as the school's official emblem. During the 1950s and 1960s, the school saw considerable growth thanks in part to
Stephen P. Duggan, an attorney and long-time member and chairman of the Board of Trustees who owned property adjacent to the school. He oversaw the rebuilding of SKS's then 44-acre campus, including construction of The Ogden Library (1958), Dyer Hall (1958), Highmount Dormitory (1958), Dempsey Dormitory (1959), Stillman Science Building (1960–61) and a new gymnasium (1963). In 1967 the school celebrated its 100th anniversary. It was the culmination of a nearly decade-long modernization project championed by chairman Duggan and successive SKS headmasters Burke Boyce (1952–1956), Warren Leonard (1956–1966) and Frank Brogan (1966–1974). During centenary celebrations, ambassador-at-large Averell W. Harriman dedicated the new Walter Orr Student Commons. In April 1968, the campus's 100-year-old Main Building, known as "Old Main", was demolished to make way for a new dormitory. Residents of Old Main moved into the new McConnell Hall in the spring of 1968. The school became coeducational in September 1970. In 1981, Rients and Suzanne Van der Woude of Cornwall gave the school 70 acres of land on Storm King Mountain, just west of the campus. Van der Woude said the land was given in order "to preserve it forever and so that children can learn about nature and ecology, and respect for life and earth." The gift expanded SKS's campus to 125 acres. The Van der Woude property was part of a historic 17-year dispute between New York utility Consolidated Edison and the Scenic Hudson Preservation Conference, a group of concerned residents and citizens. In 1963, Con Ed planned a massive hydroelectric plant on Storm King Mountain which would have required cutting through the mountain and flooding the
Black Rock Forest to create a reservoir. Due largely to opposition from the Preservation Conference, Con Ed's plan was abandoned and the suit settled in 1982. In 1990, during the tenure of headmaster John H. Suitor, a roll-off shed observatory was built on campus to house a late-19th century refractor telescope, a gift from board member Robert Cobb, that was originally owned by Erard Mathiessan. It was eventually sold to finance the purchase of the school's current Parks Newtonian telescope. The observatory was designed and built by former SKS astronomy teacher and science writer Bob Berman. ==Signature programs==