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From the Archives: RE’s Humanities Program Across the Years

Ransom Everglades’ humanities program will have a new home next fall. The Sundheim Humanities Center continues the tradition of Honor & Excellence on our upper school campus, providing students a state-of-the-art environment to think critically about the world around them.

We asked Katrina Patchett, Director of Bookstores and Archivist, how the humanities program at Ransom Everglades has evolved over the last 75 years. Several factors in the school’s and Miami’s history, as well as educational changes and teaching methods, have contributed to the need for more classroom and collaborative spaces. The new building will provide more purposeful areas and transform the learning experience for students.
Going back 75 years to the 1951-1952 school year, records show that the Ransom School had an enrollment of 71 students and offered a total of 25 humanities courses (“humanities” for this essay includes English, history, social sciences, and world languages). Four years later, in September 1955, the Everglades School for Girls opened with grades 7, 8, and 9 only and a total of 20 students. 

Miami grew rapidly in the years after World War 2. Miami Beach’s training base housed tens of thousands of military personnel during the war. Enticed by the warm climate, many of them returned when the conflict ended in 1945 to live and raise families. The increased use of air conditioning made the humid summers more comfortable, which in turn encouraged year-long residency and tourism. A development boom began with the construction of new suburbs, office buildings, hotels, and transportation hubs. With the arrival of immigrants from the late 1950s onwards, Miami turned into a diverse, bustling metropolis. 

In 1963, to meet the increasing enrollment and ensure the school kept up with evolving educational trends, the Ransom School Board of Trustees announced plans to develop a new two-story classroom building. Named after alumnus and trustee Charles Townsend Ludington ’15 – that’s 1915 - the new building would be air-conditioned and constructed of local coral rock in “keeping with and preserving historic Ransom’s natural beauty.” When the C.T. Ludington Classroom Building opened in September 1964 with an enrollment of 158 students, it offered ample space for humanities classes, including a new “language laboratory” and a small library. Ludington Hall has remained the hub for these courses ever since.

Following the 1974-75 merger, the two schools spent one final year on separate campuses. Coeducation fully began in 1975, with the Everglades campus serving as the middle school and the Ransom campus as the upper school. During that year, the 392 upper school students had access to Advanced Placement classes for the first time in school history; the total number of humanities courses climbed to 49 as new electives were introduced across all subject areas. In 1995-96, the 531 upper school students could choose from 71 humanities courses.

Since Ludington Hall opened 62 years ago, enrollment on the upper school campus has increased by 559 students. Over the same period, the humanities curriculum has roughly doubled, with 68 courses offered today. Although additional construction since 1964 provided much-needed facilities for the arts and STEM, more space is required for the humanities. The Sundheim Humanities Center will feature thoughtfully designed, collaborative spaces that advance RE’s humanities program and deliver an unmatched educational experience.

To learn more about supporting the Sundheim Humanities Center, please contact our Director of Advancement, Vicki Williamson '88, at 305 460 8826 or vwilliamson@ransomeverglades.org 

Please email Katrina Patchett if you wish to donate items to the RE archives or find out more about our school's history.
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2045 South Bayshore Drive, Coconut Grove, FL 33133
Phone: 305 250 6850

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3575 Main Highway, Coconut Grove, FL 33133
Phone: 305 460 8800

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Founded in 1903, Ransom Everglades School is a coeducational, college preparatory day school for grades 6 - 12 located on two campuses in Coconut Grove, Florida. It is rated the top private school in Miami and among the 10 private schools in North America. Ransom Everglades School produces graduates who "believe that they are in the world not so much for what they can get out of it as for what they can put into it." The school provides rigorous college preparation that promotes the student's sense of identity, community, personal integrity and values for a productive and satisfying life, and prepares the student to lead and to contribute to society.


Ransom Everglades School®, The RE Way®, RE Pathways® and Bowden Fellowships in the Humanities™ are trademarks of Ransom Everglades School.