History of former Doane Stuart School building

The building that once housed the Doane Stuart School in Albany dates to the 1840’s. The building has an extensive resume.

To put it into context of just how long this school has been there, our 10th president, John Tyler, was in office at the time the old school was being built in 1842.

It started out as a private summer home for Jared Rathbone and his family during the 1840’s. Then it became a convent. In 1852, the Roman Catholic Kenwood Academy was founded. In 1870, the Episcopal St. Agnes School was founded by the first bishop of Albany, William Doane.

It opened as an all-girls Catholic school two years later.

In 1975, The Kenwood Academy and St. Agnes merged into the Doane Stuart School.

An agreement was not reached to buy the property, and the school moved in 2009 to its current location in Rensselaer.