When the first students walked through the doors of St. Mary’s Elementary School on Feb. 1, 1926, much of Manhasset was still a quiet, developing community, with dirt roads leading to the school at the head of Plandome Road.
A century later, the school stands in the heart of a busy North Shore town, but its mission remains the same.
Founded under the vision of Msgr. Edward J. Dunnigan, who laid the cornerstone on Sept. 14, 1925, St. Mary’s was created to serve a growing Catholic immigrant population seeking both education and faith formation.
The cornerstone of the school building was laid on Sept. 14, 1925. In January 1926, the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary moved to campus.Photo provided by St. Mary’s Elementary School
Today, as the school marks its 100th anniversary, that mission rooted in faith, community and education continues to guide generations of students.
The world is changing rapidly today, much as it was a century ago when the cornerstone was first laid at St. Mary’s, said Msgr. Thomas Coogan, pastor of St. Mary’s. What has remained constant, he said, is the role of faith and enduring moral truths in helping students navigate those changes.
“With the changing of times, modern challenges do arise,” Coogan said. “But faith and morals are eternal truths that are true today like they were 100 years ago,” he said.
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While classrooms have shifted from slate boards to iPads and from religious sisters as the sole educators to a mix of clergy and lay teachers, the foundation has endured.
In its earliest years, the student body was almost entirely Irish and taught by the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Today, the school reflects the diversity of the broader Manhasset community.
“Now we’re ethnically very diverse… we have students from almost every ethnic group you can imagine,” Coogan said. “Our boys and girls live together with no awareness of race or ethnicity as being an issue.”
That evolution has been matched by a strong sense of continuity within the parish itself. Unlike many Catholic schools that have struggled to remain open, St. Mary’s has endured, in part because of its enduring ties to the evolving
neighborhoods in the area.
“Manhasset is the kind of community where people have deep roots,” Coogan said. “Many people pass on the tradition their parents gave them of supporting the school.”
That multigenerational connection remains central to the school’s identity.
Theresa Kemp, principal of St. Mary’s Elementary School, said the school’s enrollment of about 260 students helps foster an intimate environment.
“We are blessed with a tight-knit community where parents are deeply involved through the PTA and constant engagement. Our faculty is incredibly warm; teachers go out of their way to build the student experience and often stay for many, many years, which preserves that sense of family.”
The celebration will culminate in a 100th anniversary gala later this month.Photo provided by St. Mary’s Elementary School
This sense of belonging serves as the foundation for a rigorous academic program that seeks to develop the whole child. Those values extend into the classroom. The school’s STREAM curriculum integrates science, technology, religion, engineering, art and math, with an emphasis on guiding students both academically and morally.
“With technology today, students have access to so much information,” Kemp said. “We have to guide our students to think critically and to analyze what is true.”
Despite the changes in resources and technology, Kemp said the core of a St. Mary’s education remains consistent.
“If you put a student from 1926 and a student from today in the same room, they would recognize one another,” she said. “The virtues would be the same. Faith, respect, responsibility, service to one another.”
As part of its centennial celebration, the school has spent the past year inviting both parishioners and the wider community to take part in its history.
Events have included a cornerstone carnival, a centennial Mass and an open house that transformed the building into a walking museum, with each grade researching a different decade and hallways lined with class photos spanning generations.
“It was almost like a walking museum,” Kemp said.
The celebration will culminate in a 100th anniversary gala later this month, with invitations extended to alumni, former teachers and the broader community.
“Everyone is welcome,” Kemp said. “We are very inclusive.”
For Coogan, the centennial is not only a time to reflect on the past, but to look ahead.
“There’s a real possibility that some of our 3-year-old students could be present at the 200th anniversary,” he said. “The truths we teach will still guide them.”