The Park School of Buffalo is a private, co-educational, college preparatory school located in Amherst, New York (north of Buffalo). Founded in 1912 during the American country day school movement, the institution features lower, middle, and upper schools, serving roughly 290 students from Pre-Kindergarten through grade 12..About ParkHistoryOriginally located in downtown Buffalo, The Park School was founded in 1912 by a group of Buffalo parents seeking an alternative to already established pre-preparatory institutions in the area. The group consulted with John Dewey and observed one of his students, Mary Hammett Lewis of Columbia University, then an instructor at the prestigious Horace Mann School in New York City.Miss Lewis was invited to Buffalo to become the founding Headmistress. She later wrote a book, An Adventure with Children, describing her experiences at The Park School of Buffalo. As the student body grew, it was decided that an upper preparatory school should be added. Originally for girls, the upper school began accepting male students in the early 1930s, then offering the only private, co-educational experience in the Buffalo, NY area.CampusIn 1920, Chauncey Hamlin, a prominent Buffalonian, President of the American Association of Museums and founder of the Buffalo Museum of Science, offered his estate to the Park School Board, which arranged for its purchase. The estate, in Snyder, featured a large mansion, farmhouse, barn, small forest, orchard and pond, and a stone house at the entrance. Two of the original buildings constructed in the late 19th century, and one historic building that was a part of the Underground Railroad in the early 19th century, are still used by the school.
