Catherine Carlton, Mayor of the City of Menlo Park, presented the proclamation to Menlo’s Centennial Co-Chairs, Julie Douglass and Amy Sanford, at a recent City Council meeting. It reads:

WHEREAS, Menlo School is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year; and

WHEREAS, William Warren opened the William Warren School as a military academy, enrolling about 12 boys in grades 1-8, in September 1915; and

WHEREAS, the school expanded rapidly in the late 1920s with a swimming pool, a new infirmary, the Oak Pit gymnasium and consisted of a two-year junior high, a four-year high school and a two-year junior college; and

WHEREAS, Menlo School survived the Great Depression during the 1930s despite the fact that enrollment shrank by half; and

WHEREAS, in 1945 Menlo School acquired the Douglass Mansion which is now the centerpiece of the campus; and

WHEREAS, the first annual festival of school spirit called “M” Day took place in 1948 where students participated in a tug-of-war game that is still played today; and

WHEREAS, in the 1950s, the campus grew when several acres were purchased and used as athletic fields and tennis courts; and

WHEREAS, pop culture icons, Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead and Robbie Krieger of the Doors both attended Menlo in the 1960s; and

WHEREAS, one of the most significant changes in the School’s history came in 1979 when girls were first admitted; and

WHEREAS, in the 1980s the athletics program saw great success with many league and section championships; and

WHEREAS, Norm Colb became Head of School in 1993 and the process began to separate the School and College; and

WHEREAS, under the leadership of Board of Trustees Chair Peter Stent, the School worked to save Douglass Hall and preserve the historic building from destruction due to damage sustained during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake; and

WHEREAS, the campus has evolved over the last 100 years to provide students with the best possible education.

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT PROCLAIMED that I, Catherine Carlton, Mayor of the City of Menlo Park, hereby proclaim 2015 the Centennial Year of Menlo School and encourage everyone to join me in celebrating the school that has and will continue to educate young people for the next 100 years.

Catherine Carlton, Mayor
City of Menlo Park