In the school’s early days, only a few students left campus for the Thanksgiving holiday. Learn about the celebrations and traditions that marked the day for faculty and students.
 

Thanksgiving Eve Dinner at the Headmaster’s House, 1915

The Loomis LOG of December 9, 1915 reported, “It was with envy that the 20 or so boys who remained at school over the Thanksgiving recess saw the others who were more fortunate leave for home in high spirits. But the gloom was soon dispelled when we learned that we were all going down to the Batchelders’ for a buffet supper [the night before Thanksgiving].” Popcorn and candy followed dinner and silhouettes “were drawn of everyone present, including Jock,” one of the Batchelder’s dogs.
 

Hare and Hounds Race, 1915

On Thanksgiving morning, Mr. Batchelder and the school’s Business Manager, Howard Morse, “started off with two pillow cases filled with cut up paper.” They laid the course for a four-mile race, and runners began about twenty minutes later. The LOG noted, “the trail led due south past the barn, up over the railroad tracks, across several fields, through a piece of woods, through some very wet swamps, up to Sage Park, and thence home to the starting point…On the whole, the run was great fun and gave us a fine appetite for the dinner which was to follow.” The construction of Founders Hall can be seen in the background of this photo.
 

LOG article on Thanksgiving Feast, 1915

A Thanksgiving dinner was held in the William H. Loomis Dining Hall and enjoyed by all. The evening meal was humble by comparison: crackers and milk. An after dinner program included short speeches by Mr. and Mrs. Batchelder and invited guests. A Dr. Paton “amused [the boys] with anecdotes about President Lincoln and a talk on “the different kinds of courage.” The celebration closed with the singing of hymns and patriotic songs in the Chapel.
 

Founders Hall Chapel

By contrast, the Thanksgiving Day celebration of 1920 began in the Chapel. According to the LOG, “Mr. Batchelder gave a short address on the significance of Thanksgiving day and how it should be observed.” Military-style inspection of dormitory rooms followed. The 1920 hare and hounds race took place that afternoon with a covering of snow on the ground: “The hounds found it more difficult than they supposed to track the fugitives through the snow…Needless to say, the chase gave everyone a large appetite for the excellent meal which the Chef had prepared….Thirteen large turkeys were carried in single file about the dining room.”
 

The Loomis Revue, 1920

Beginning in 1920, the Thanksgiving evening included a program of skits and one-act plays. This year’s performance, held in Founders Hall, won “unanimous applause” from the audience of students, faculty, and faculty wives. During the early years of the school, students took great pride and delight in writing and performing the annual revue. The 1919 show garnered extraordinary praise with the LOG announcing, “Not often does Broadway get as far from home as it did last Thanksgiving evening, when [it] came to Loomis….[T]he show as a whole demonstrated that good, original work in writing for the stage can be done here at school.”
 

Gwendolen Sedgwick Batchelder

Gwendolen Sedgwick Batchelder fully embraced her role as wife of the school’s first headmaster. She devoted a great deal of energy and time to opening her home to the students and planned celebrations from Halloween to Christmas and Washington’s Birthday to teas on days of home athletic events. Her unexpected death in February of 1917 dealt a blow to the entire school community, and Gwendolen was remembered by students “as the inspirer of our gracious customs.” The flagpole, erected in her memory by the students to the north of Founders Hall, bears these words on its base.