Garrison Forest School

Garrison Forest School (GFS) is a non-denominational private college preparatory boarding and day school located on a campus in Owings Mills, Maryland. GFS offers kindergarten through 12th grade for girls as well as a co-educational program for pre-K. The school is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools and the Association of Independent Maryland Schools. History Garrison Forest was established by Mary Moncrieffe Livingston (1869-1956), the head of a day school in Kingston, New York, in 1910. She had previously visited Baltimore to visit her sister and brother-in-law and was invited by the community to start a co-ed school. The school she set up was located in a house off of Reisterstown Road in the Green Spring Valley Historic District. At its start, the primary school was co-ed while high school was for female students only. Within two years of opening, Livingston purchased an additional of land and expanded the school's facilities, including the addition of a stable. By 1916, the school had 40 students total; in 1920, five students graduated from GFS. Livingston served as the first headmistress from the school's inception until her retirement in 1929. She was followed by co-headmistresses Jean Marshall and Nancy Offutt, who started the school's riding program and oversaw the school until 1960. They were replaced by Archibald Montgomery IV, the first headmaster. In 1961, the school grounds had expanded to , with two gymnasiums and two dormitories among the buildings. At this time, there were 300 students between ages 10 and 18 and the school had about 1,000 alumni. Montgomery was replaced in 1968 by Lawrence Hlavacek. Under Hlavacek, the school bought a farm near Butler with the intention of developing it into a new campus, but eventually sold the site and returned to developing the existing campus. At this time, they were also discussing merging with St. Timothy's School and McDonogh School, but instead decided to merge with the nearby Valley School, a co-ed PK to sixth grade school, in 1975. By the time Hlavacek retired in 1978, the school enrollment was up to 407, 75 of which were boarders.