60 Years on Hampton Lane
“We must be absolutely certain that the new location is the best available…we have to keep asking ourselves what this, or any other site, will be like 100 years from now.” – Sister Mary Virginia Connolly, SSND, Headmistress of Notre Dame Preparatory School, 1957
Notre Dame Preparatory School enjoys a rich history in the educational community in Baltimore. Established in 1873 by the School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND), who traveled from Germany to America, the school was founded on the premise that education, especially the education of young women, can transform lives and in turn, the world. The school was initially located on Charles Street and would outgrow its urban location by the middle of the last century.
Yet 60 years ago, one intrepid woman, NDP Headmistress Sister Mary Virginia Connolly, SSND, made a decision that would forever change the future of NDP: She would move the school from Baltimore’s Charles Street to “the wilderness” of Hampton Lane in Towson to create a new history for the school.
“The vision of Sister Mary Virginia and the SSNDs was transformative in the purest sense, as the decision to relocate the school has allowed NDP to grow, flourish, and serve even greater numbers of students,” said Sister Patricia McCarron, SSND, Ph.D., headmistress. “We stand of the shoulders of those who have gone before us, each day providing an education that is both rooted in tradition and contemporary for the needs of the times.”
Sister Mary Virginia, described as a “very, very, very good businesswoman” by real estate developer James P. O’Conor, orchestrated the relocation of the school. She would handle everything from negotiating the $265,000 real estate transaction to the $3 million construction of the new facility, and all the details in between.
After several years of planning and three years of construction, NDP’s new home opened in September 1960, welcoming the first students who arrived to see the now-iconic entrance to the Prep.
Inspired by the Book of Proverbs, “Wisdom built Her house, set upon seven pillars,” Sister Mary Virginia wanted the building’s architecture to reflect the spiritual mission of the school, insisting among other things, that the entrance feature the seven columns that continue to greet students, faculty, staff, and visitors to this day.
In true NDP style, the move from Baltimore to Towson involved the participation of the entire NDP community, as students carried books and small desks and parents loaded their cars to make the trek north to the county. These were the first steps of creating a school that continues to grow and to modernize as new technologies and classroom tools emerge.
Throughout the school’s 60 years on Hampton Lane, Notre Dame Prep has grown on its sprawling campus. From new facilities for educational programs, athletics, and fine arts, NDP has never stopped evolving and expanding to meet the needs of the time.
- In 1991, NDP tripled the size of the library, creating the Mother Philemon Doyle Library that now houses an extensive collection of more than 30,000 items, a reading room with a special women’s collection, extensive database resources, and media equipment.
- In 1999, NDP’s athletics program saw the creation of new playing fields and tennis courts. In 2005, a Sports and Fitness Center, which serves as the home for our treasured Gym Meet as well as interscholastic indoor sports, opened. In 2010, NDP converted a grass field into a state-of-the-art turf playing surface and named it in honor of alumna, Yeardley Reynolds Love ’06.
- NDP’s Middle Level expanded in 2016 to include a new art studio and Innovate-Design lab, a multi-faceted, technologically advanced space, where NDP’s youngest students explore everything from 3D printing to robotics to television production.
- Completed two years after the move to Hampton Lane, the school’s then state-of-the-art auditorium, which to this day is used to host concerts, assemblies, liturgies, musicals, and numerous NDP traditions, was given 21st-century updates over the last two years. Today, new sound and lighting systems, as well as performance technology, provide student performers and tech managers the first-class space and tools to perform and learn.
- The Jane Kroh Satterfield Innovation Wing, the most recent addition to campus, opened in January 2020. Visionary and bold, the Innovation Wing provides students unparalleled opportunities for hands-on academic and career exploration in STEAM subjects. With a medical suite, classrooms for the Bette Ellis O'Conor Humanities Program, a fabrication lab, art studios, cyber computer center, design studies, and more, this space enhances opportunities to cultivate curiosity and hone high-tech career interests.
As we look to future chapters in NDP’s yet-to-be-written story, one thing remains true: Notre Dame’s mission of educating young women to transform our world, will continue to be a driving force for the students of today and for generations of students to come.
Notre Dame Preparatory School
An Independent, Catholic Girls School, Grades 6-12, Sponsored by the School Sisters of Notre Dame
