The Leelanau School

The Leelanau School is a co-educational non-profit boarding high school located in Glen Arbor, Michigan. The school was founded in 1929 and has a historical association with Christian Science. The school is a small, college-preparatory school with of land with 13 year-round and 9 seasonal building structures. The school has a teacher-to-student ratio between 1:6 and 1:10 for most classes, ranking among the top 20 American boarding schools in that category. It has a diverse student body, boasting an international enrollment of over 10%. The school is located on the shore of Lake Michigan just outside Glen Arbor, with the Crystal River running through the property. The Lanphier Observatory, with a Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector telescope, is also located on the grounds. History Leelanau for Boys was founded in 1929 by William M. "Skipper" Beals and his wife Cora, née Mautz, faculty members at the upper school of The Principia, in response to the popularity of their summer camp for boys on the same site at the mouth of the Crystal River on Sleeping Bear Bay. Originally, the school, like the camp, was intended for boys from Christian Science homes. In the beginning, it offered instruction for grades 7-10 only; its first high school class graduated in 1932, with state accreditation following in 1933. But while the camps—a nearby "sister" camp, Kohahna, for girls, was owned and run by Skipper Beals' sister, Maude Beals Turner—maintain close ties to Christian Science to the present day, the school dropped its official religious denominational focus early on. The camps were separated from the school completely in 1987 and continue under separate management at the Kohahna site. The school weathered the Great Depression and its popularity created a clientele for the summer resort The Homestead in the mid-1930s (at the time the school was on the same grounds as the resort, now it is adjacent), as well as necessitating the opening of Pinebrook for Girls in 1940. The two schools grew rapidly after World War II and were eventually consolidated as The Leelanau Schools. Beginning in the early 1930s, Arthur S. “Major” Huey became an apprentice to Skipper Beals. In partnership with his wife Helen, née Mautz (Cora Beals’ sister), Huey purchased the schools after Skipper Beals’ death in 1942.