IMS Centennial

In 1922, Francis Behn Riggs restructured and renamed his inaugural “Riggs” school. “Indian Mountain School,” named after the mountain on campus, became a boarding school designed to prepare boys for the entrance to secondary school and college. Still deeply affected by the First World War, Mr. Riggs adopted his motto “Life Through Service” and applied it to Indian Mountain. Students became stewards of the land, learning about agricultural best practices and continuing to supply the School’s kitchen with vegetables from the farm. By 1928, the enrollment reached 30 boys.

That November, tragedy struck when the main school building burned completely. Riggs was able to raise the substantial funds needed to construct the present structure in time for school in September 1929, just months ahead of the stock market crash. At that same time, the School was incorporated not-for-profit and chartered under the laws of Connecticut to “maintain forever a school for the training and education of boys and young men.” After donating his farm and home to the school, Mr. Riggs transformed the once secondary school into a junior boarding school for children in grades 1-8, the idea of service at its core. The new building, designed for forty students and their instructors, was full that fall.

By the end of the decade, following the Great Depression and the early years of the war, Riggs decided to retire after serving the school for 23 years. In June, 1939, Mr. William M. Doolittle was appointed as the School’s second Headmaster, and over the course of more than 30 years brought significant changes and expansions to IMS. For the first time, day students were accepted under Mr. Doolitte’s leadership, and in 1941 the school enrolled its first female students, eventually leading to Indian View School, a boarding school for girls.

Throughout the years, Indian Mountain School has remained true to its founding motto. “Life Through Service” represents more than a plaque on a wall. Our founding motto endures as a motivating principle for our community and program. As we move into our next century, we are looking closer at what “service” truly meant to our founder Mr. Riggs, and what it means to us today. Recently, a group of IMS administrators sought to examine the relevance of our motto and its place within the school in the 21st century. The driving question was, “Why Service?” Their answer speaks volumes about our motto’s lasting purpose and the way it informs the IMS experience.

Why Service?

Service is compassion in action. It is making one’s respect for the world and its inhabitants manifest. It’s the honest, altruistic response to the indisputable fact of our interdependence. At IMS, we cultivate students whose sphere of concern starts at home, but extends to neighbors and the people of every nation.

Learn more about service at IMS