| The big news of the 1960s at St. Helen’s
Hall was its forced removal from its campus in downtown Portland.
The state highway department told the school that Interstate 405
would cut through the campus, and the Hall was given until June
1964 to vacate the land. The Board purchased 32 acres of rural
land in Raleigh Hills that had formerly been the Nicol Riding
Academy. Buildings were hastily constructed, and moving began
in June even before commencement. During a ceremony outside Morris
Hall, firefighters with a hook and ladder truck removed the cross
from the top of the building, and it was moved to the new campus.
The old cornerstone bearing the date of the school’s founding
and the old brass bell also were taken to the new campus, where
school opened in September 1964.
The other important development of the decade was the creation
of a school for boys, Bishop Dagwell Hall. BDH opened its doors
in September 1965 as a coordinate, not coeducational, institution
sharing the campus with St. Helen’s Hall. The two schools
shared the chapel, the library, the gymnasium, laboratories and
the dining room. However, BDH and St. Helen’s Hall maintained
separate classes and separate traditions. BDH was led by three
principals in three successive years, with the third being the
Rev. David Leech. After the retirement from St. Helen’s
Hall of headmaster Gertrude Fariss in 1968, the Board decided
to place both schools under a common headmaster, naming Rev. Leech
to that position. It also created the name Oregon Episcopal Schools.
Information for this page was condensed from The First Century,
a history of St. Helen's Hall written by Sally Reed Stout.
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