Saint James is the second iteration of an innovative type of school conceived by William Augustus Muhlenberg who founded model schools on Long Island in 1828 and 1836. The founding Rector of Saint James was John Barrett Kerfoot, who was Muhlenberg's principal disciple for thirteen years before Muhlenberg sent him to Western Maryland to extend the mission. The models established at Flushing and College Point, Long Island, and in St. James, Maryland, were the mother lode for much subsequent prospecting. Staff from Saint James founded St. Paul's, Concord, New Hampshire, St. Mark's, Southborough, Massachusetts; and several other schools. Racine College in Wisconsin was modeled on Saint James and its celebrated rector James DeKoven recruited faculty from Saint James.
The school is led by the headmaster of twenty-eight years, the Rev. Dr. Donald Stuart Dunnan. Dunnan was appointed Rector & Headmaster of Saint James School in July 1993. A teacher and chaplain at both the school and university levels before he came to Saint James, he is one of the few Episcopal priests still serving as the head of a secondary school in the United States.
Campus
Saint James School is situated in a rural area. The Georgian-style buildings are in farmland containing a natural spring, fields, and streams. Total acreage exceeds 800 acres. The school lies southwest of Hagerstown and is approximately from both Baltimore and Washington, D.C..
Claggett Hall: The largest boys' dorm on campus, Claggett houses over 60 fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-formers as well as several faculty members.
Kemp Hall: The campus student center.
Powell Hall: The main academic building with over 20 classrooms.
John E. Owens Library.
Kerfoot Refectory.
Laidlaw Infirmary.
Cotton Building and the Bowman Fine Arts Center: The Fine Arts Center houses the auditorium, which seats about 300. This building includes music study rooms, the art studio/yearbook room, and a Choir room. The Mummer's Society puts on several plays every year, including a fall drama, a spring musical, senior-directed plays, and the Christmas Tradition of St. George and the Dragon.
Alumni Hall: Alumni Hall houses two wrestling rooms, two dance studios, a weight room, locker rooms, and a field house. The field house contains three basketball courts which can be converted into four tennis courts or two volleyball courts.
The Chapel.
Mattingly Hall: A dorm for third- and fourth-form boys. Hershey Hall was renovated in the spring of 2006 and renamed Mattingly Hall in honor of John M. Mattingly '58.
Onderdonk Hall: A dorm for second- and third-form boys.
Holloway House: The fourth-, fifth- and sixth-form girls' dorm.
Coors Hall: A dorm for second-, third-, and fourth-form girls.
Bai Yuka: The school's water source, the Bai Yuka is a natural spring that runs through campus and whose name is Native American for "fountain rock".
Biggs Rectory: The headmaster's house was completed in 2002.
