Since 1984

All boys, independent, Catholic, and unlike any other school in New Orleans. For nearly 40 years, Stuart Hall has been the place Where Good Boys Become Great Men.

“Stuart Hall began as a dream in my heart.”

  • Following a tiring period of research, planning, and public relations efforts, Mr. Gallop’s dream began to take shape.

    He leased classroom space at the Annunciation Episcopal Church property on Claiborne Avenue near Napoleon Avenue, and the school opened its doors for the 1984-1985 school year to 63 students and 10 faculty and staff members. The oldest boys were in first grade, and would go on to become the first graduating class of Stuart Hall in 1991. “School began with tremendous parental support and a feeling of optimism that was seen everywhere,” Mr. Gallop reflected. The school held its first auction in the spring of 1985, earning $30,000. The first Annual Fund campaign was also conducted, bringing in an additional $25,000 to ensure the school’s solvency.

  • Just sixteen days before the fourth school year began, an order by the fire marshal forced the school to seek a new location.

    Mr. Gallop secured temporary classrooms and grounds at the former New Orleans Academy campus in Lakewood South. Parents, grandparents, faculty and friends worked long into the night over the next two weeks to prepare the campus for the first day of school. They succeeded, and the 1987-88 school year began on schedule. Mr. Gallop observed, “The real miracle I learned was that when people are committed to an ideal, you can accomplish anything.” In April 1988, the Carrollton Presbyterian Church and School campus became available, and a twenty-year lease was signed.  In 1989, Margaret d’Hemecourt, who started as a teacher assistant, was welcomed as the first Head of Middle School, a great sign of growth for the school.

“The way to do much in a short time is to love much. People will do great things if they are stirred with enthusiasm and love.”

— Janet Erskine Stuart, RSCJ

“Stuart Hall began as a dream in my heart.”

  • William Gallop, the school’s founding headmaster, said upon founding Stuart Hall... “This dream was nurtured most carefully with prayer.”

    In 1984, following twelve years as headmaster at the Academy of the Sacred Heart in New Orleans, Gallop felt the call to create a new school that would fill a need which had not previously been met in New Orleans. His vision was to offer a Catholic education for all boys in an independent, preparatory-school environment.

  • Inspired by the Sacred Heart tradition.

    Mr. Gallop named his budding school for Janet Erskine Stuart, a religious of the Sacred Heart, who was an English educator at the turn of the twentieth century. She wrote extensively of a philosophy of education espousing faith, scholarship, leadership and honor — qualities upon which the Stuart Hall education is built. Her belief that “education is formation, not just information” became the cornerstone of the school’s mission.