Founded in 1946 as the American Community School, a non-profit organization, the American School of Paris has existed in several forms from 1923. ...
In 1912 Dr. Prynce Hopkins built "Boyland", a private school for underprivileged boys, on a 13-acre campus near Las Tunas and Tremonto Roads.
Prynce Hopkins was born in 1885. While attending Ojai’s Thacher School, he demonstrated his fascination for the new flying machines by designing a working model for a helicopter. He earned degrees from London University, Yale, and Columbia and spoke five languages. Hopkins loved to travel, and he became deeply interested in Asia and eastern philosophies. In 1913, he returned to Santa Barbara to open a boy's school. Purchasing 13 acres on Mission Ridge, he built a large Swiss chalet, surrounded by vegetable gardens and a working miniature railway with a 200-pound locomotive. Hopkins was one of the earliest practitioners of the Montessori method of education. He felt play was just as important in the learning process as classroom work. Students attended class from 6 to 11 a.m. and spent the rest of the day in various pursuits, usually outdoors. As enrollment grew, Hopkins began to look for a new site to allow for expansion. In 1915, Hopkins bought 32 acres above Oak Park, where the Samarkand complex is now, and built his new school. Many of the buildings were done in a Persian architectural style. Riding stables, a fully equipped gym, formal gardens - all were built with the idea of the importance of outdoor activities in mind. The outstanding feature of the grounds was the 1.5-acre artificial lake with a topographic map of the world. The continents had volcanoes that belched smoke and running rivers. Students could climb into a raft or rowboat and sail across the Pacific to San Francisco Bay or sail from New York to the Mediterranean in shipping lanes mapped out with wire. The boys, in effect, took part in a living geography lesson. Opening in 1917, the innovative school was short-lived. Hopkins was a confirmed pacifist, an unpopular view especially when the U.S. entered in World War I. In April 1918, Hopkins was jailed and fined $20,000 under the Espionage Act for written works that purportedly gave aid to the enemy. One of his books, titled More Prussian Than Prussia, decried the U.S. penchant to enter the war and criticized what he perceived to be an erosion of civil liberty in this country. Hopkins's stance spelled the end of Boyland. In 1918, the grounds were used as an emergency hospital during the deadly influenza epidemic. Prynce's mother shortly thereafter transformed the school into the Samarkand Hotel, thus giving the surrounding neighborhood its name. Hopkins spent a number of years teaching in Europe and traveling, but he eventually returned to Santa Barbara. He lived in the family home until 1956, when he built a house in the International style at 1920 Garden Street. A founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union and the local United Nations chapter, Hopkins remained active until his death in 1970, celebrating his 85th birthday that year with a trip around the world.
It was the first American day school in France. DeRosay and his French wife, and Donald Jean MacJannet lived at the school, which had opened with about a score of pupils.
MacJannet opens "the Elms" in Saint Cloud while Paul G De Rosay continues alone in Auteuil
AUTEUIL DAY SCHOOL
Sunray Club Doing Away With Clothes
The school moves to the Chateau de Bures in the western suburbs
Prynce opened and operated a second progressive school for boys outside Paris, France, in about 1925, which closed upon the occupation of France by the Germans
1933-34 Brochure
