Private, coeducational school in Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States
Scranton Preparatory School is a co-educational Jesuit high school located in Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States.
History
Scranton Prep opened its doors in 1944. At the request of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Scranton and of Catholic families in the area, the Jesuits who had recently assumed ownership of the University of Scranton began preparations to open a college preparatory school in the Scranton area.[2] Led by the university's president, W. Coleman Nevils, the Jesuits renovated a building known as the “Annex” on the corner of Mulberry Street and Wyoming Avenue for the high school.[3] The Annex, formerly the Dr. Charles E. Thomson Scranton Private Hospital, was acquired by William Hafey in 1941. Although he had intended for it to be used by the university to expand its facilities, the Second World War in Europe had caused the college’s enrollment to decline precipitously and made such expansions unnecessary.[2] After renovations were completed, the high school was opened in 1944 for young Catholic men.[4] The Annex served as the high school’s home until 1961 when the construction of an expressway necessitated a move to a new location.[5] After making the Old Main Building of the University of Scranton its temporary home for two years, Prep moved to its permanent location, the former Women’s Institute Building of the International Correspondence Schools, at 1000 Wyoming Avenue.[3]
Although founded as a boys' school, Scranton Prep became co-educational in 1971 when a fire destroyed Marywood Seminary, a local girls’ academy conducted by the Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters.[5]
Although the Prep's staff and operation were for the most part distinct from the university, it was owned by the university and under its corporate control from 1944 until 1977, when it received its official charter of separate incorporation in 1977.[3][5]
