Catlin Gabel School History

Gabel History

The history of Catlin Gabel School reaches back to 1859 with the founding of The Portland Academy in downtown Portland. By 1920, The Portland Academy became The Preparatory School, where Priscilla Gabel was a teacher. In 1931, The Preparatory School, located on Southwest 13th Avenue had become Miss Gabel’s School. When St. Helens Hall purchased the neighboring Gabel building in 1936, Miss Gabel relocated to a former golf club in rural Raleigh Hills, renaming the school Gabel Country Day School.

Catlin History

Ruth Catlin began Miss Catlin’s School in 1911 on Northwest 24th Avenue, moving into the school building she had constructed on Northwest Culpepper Terrace in 1917. She added the Hillside building to the campus in 1926, and then a building for boarding students. In 1928, Miss Catlin deeded the school to the Board of Trustees, which incorporated as the Catlin Hillside School.

Catlin Gabel History

In 1957, the Catlin Hillside School and Gabel Country Day School agreed to merge.

The Catlin Gabel School had hoped to create a new home at the Raleigh Hills site, but soon after the merger decision, the Gabel campus was purchased through eminent domain to build the Raleigh Park Public School. Since the Catlin Hillside campus was too small for the combined schools, Catlin Gabel purchased the Honey Hollow Farm on Barnes Road in 1958 and relocated the Upper School there.

The Catlin Gabel Lower School remained on Culpepper Terrace for the next decade. In 1967, grades 7 and 8 moved into a new Middle School building on Barnes Road. In 1968, the kindergarten and grades 1–6 came to Honey Hollow. The School then sold the Catlin Hillside buildings to the Portland Art Museum, which eventually sold the buildings to the Portland Parks Bureau.

Today, the Catlin Gabel School enrolls just over 700 students in preschool through 12th grade.