A legacy of purpose and growth

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We deeply appreciate our predecessor schools for their commitment to becoming and remaining institutions that upheld the highest standards of teaching, learning and character development. They set the standard for our own unwavering dedication to excellence.

The first of our predecessor schools, Detroit Home and Day School, was founded in 1878 by the Rev. James Liggett. In 1912, its name was changed to The Liggett School. In 1899, Detroit University School (DUS), our second predecessor school, was founded by Frederick Leroy Bliss and Henry Gray Sherrard. Legend has it that an epidemic of typhoid prompted the founding of our third predecessor school, Grosse Pointe Country Day School (CDS), in 1915. In 1941, as a wartime measure to pool financial oversight, CDS and DUS merged boards. The two schools officially merged in 1954 to form Grosse Pointe University School (GPUS). Finally, GPUS and The Liggett School joined in 1969 to become University Liggett School (ULS), although students were permitted to identify as graduates of either GPUS or ULS that first year. In the spring of 1971, University Liggett School celebrated its first “all ULS” graduating class.

Legacy Image

University Liggett School stands in striking contrast to the modest Liggett School that opened in a converted Detroit boarding house more than a century ago. Yet, despite the myriad global changes that have occurred in that span of time, that legacy of excellence in education is alive today in a vibrant learning environment.