A List of Firsts at St. B's

First Boy (Winslow Pierce) - 1904

First Budget - 1906

First Sports Day - 1907

First General Knowledge Test - 1907
First St. Bernard's Play - 1908

First Shakespeare Play - 1910

First soccer match boys against masters - 1911

First faculty marriage (Mr. Jenkins) - 1913

First Hamlet - 1916

First Croix de Guerre (Jack Wendell) - 1916

First Old Boys Dinner - 1916

First Payne-Whitney Honor Prize - 1917

First St. B’s Summer Camp - 1919

First year 100 boys enrolled - 1920

First Giants soccer team - 1921

First Fathers’ Dinner - 1922

First Glenn Essay (Hero of Lost Cause) - 1923

First second-generation boy (G. Schall)- 1923

First Fencing class - 1924

First Boxing class - 1926

First Old Boy on faculty (Roger Platt) - 1926

First Pierrot Show - 1927

First Tabor Watch awarded - 1927

First undefeated 1st Team (soccer) - 1930

First Junior School Concert - 1936

First Book-of-the-Month Club author (C. LaFarge) - 1939

First carpentry class - 1939

First course in Physical Training - 1939

First Art course - 1939

First Board of Trustees - 1940

First St. B’s Dance - 1940

First woman receptionist - 1940

First full-time woman teacher - 1942

First faculty pension fund - 1946

First different Headmaster (RIWW) - 1949

First ringing of the Bells - 1953

First Junior Old Boys Lunch - 1953

First Book Fair - 1954

First Handwriting Awards - 1956

First slither of the Alligator - 1959

First Commencement - 1960

First Carnegie Hall appearance of St. B’s Consort - 1961

First ‘dog’ necktie for sale - 1962

First David King-Wood Shakespeare Play - 1963

First female teacher in Middle School - 1966

First Intramural sports - 1967

First lecture on dangers of drugs - 1970

First women teachers at Fathers’ Dinner - 1972

First Ninth Grade - 1973

First Fathers Dinner without apostrophe - 1974

First Grandparents Day - 1974

First yearbook, The Keg - 1980

First rock group at school concert - 1990

First basketball and baseball League champions - 1991

First Upper School speech contest - 1991

First Discipline Book - 1992

First flight of Vidal the Condor in Central Park - 1996

First kindergarten class - 1997

First Centenary - 2004
First toaster in the cafeteria - 2005
First egg drop in science class - 2014
First virtual Friday assembly - 2020