About The Wilder School!

Wilder Memorial Nursery School · Founded in 1924 · Hingham, MA

Our Wonderful History

Wilder Memorial Nursery School, a non-profit, cooperative school, is rich in history and unique in traditions, and has served generations of families.

Wilder Memorial Hall was erected in 1879 by the trustees of Martin Wilder's will "For the promotion of Industry and Education."

The Wilder School was founded by Hingham mothers in 1924 and incorporated in 1929, Wilder is believed to be the first cooperative preschool in the U.S., and the very first school to teach 3-year-olds.

Many of the programs, which have become traditions at Wilder, such as Parent of the Day, Graduation, and the Wilder Fair, date back to those early days. Many of these practices have evolved over the years, however, Wilder is still a parent cooperative with significant parental involvement.

"I have often marveled that the little school that started so unpretentiously...kept on growing and proved to be so successful!"
One of Wilder's founders

Indeed, there have been some changes. Parent involvement at the Wilder cooperative nursery school was all-encompassing in the 'old days'. For many of the mothers it was the equivalent to a part-time job! Dads were not involved in those years. Today dads are; and Wilder is the better for it. Although we still maintain many of the Wilder traditions, we hope the changes that have been made have been positive.

One of Wilder's founding mothers, in writing a history of the nursery school, wrote, "I have often marveled that the little school that started so unpretentiously, with so little forethought-almost on the spur of the moment-kept on growing and proved to be so successful!"