Roxbury Latin School

The Roxbury Latin School, founded in 1645 and located at 101 Saint Theresa Avenue in West Roxbury, Massachusetts since 1927, is the oldest school in continuous existence in North America. This fact is one of the school's proudest claims to fame, and is due to the fact that, during the American Revolution, its faculty members were predominantly Tories, and thus did not close down the school to fight in the Revolution, as the faculty of Boston Latin School (which was founded earlier) did. Roxbury Latin was established in Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1645 by the Rev. John Eliot under a charter received from King Charles I of England. Located in the West Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, the school serves close to 300 boys in grades seven through twelve. John Eliot founded the school "to fit [students] for public service both in church and in commonwealth in succeeding ages."

Other significant claims to fame are its students' high SAT score average -- the highest of any New England independent school, according to Boston Magazine -- and its top acceptance rate at Ivy League colleges despite maintaining a low tuition relative to its peers. In 2003, Worth Magazine ranked Roxbury Latin as the #1 "feeder school" for elite colleges.

Its previous headmaster, F. Washington Jarvis, who retired in summer 2004 after a 30-year tenure, published several books about Roxbury Latin, including a history of the school (Schola Illustris) and collections of his speeches to boys at Roxbury Latin (With Love and Prayers). The title of the former, "Schola Illustris," was the phrase Cotton Mather used to describe the school in 1690, following John Eliot's death. In addition to those books, Richard Walden Hale published Tercentenary History of the Roxbury Latin School in 1946. Roxbury Latin continues to hold a unique place in the history of American education.

Roxbury Latin School is a member of the Independent School League and NEPSAC.

• Dr. Joseph Warren who fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill, Class of 1755
• Frederick Winsor, founder of The Middlesex School, Class of 1888
• James Dole, founder of the Hawaiian Pineapple Company in Honolulu, Hawai'i currently known as Dole Food Company, Class of 1895
• Charles W. Tobey, Governor, US Representative, and Senator of New Hampshire, Class of 1898
• Dr. Paul Dudley White, "Father of Modern Cardiology," noted cardiologist, founder of American Heart Association, Class of 1903
• James B. Sumner, noted chemist, recipient of 1946 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Class of 1906
• James Bryant Conant president of Harvard University, ambassador to Germany, Class of 1910
• Albert Hamilton Gordon, School Trustee since 1940, Wall Street businessman, centenarian, philanthropist, Class of 1919
• Charles T. Bauer, late business leader, founder of AIM Investments, major educational benefactor, Class of 1938

• Richard W. Murphy, former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Syria, Mauritania, Philippines, television commentator, Class of 1947
• Dr. Jared Diamond, noted biologist, author and Pulitzer Prize-winner for Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, Class of 1954
• Christopher Lydon, radio broadcaster and former host of NPR's "The Connection," Class of 1958

• Roxbury Latin School