The land on which McDonogh sits, once called Prospect Hill, was renamed “Foxleigh” by Robert Oliver, who owned the estate from 1857 to 1870. He sold it to William G. Harrison for $70,000 and two years later, Harrison sold the property to the McDonogh Board of Trustees for $85,000.
Foxleigh consisted of a brick mansion with a frame extension, an array of outbuildings (smokehouse, ice house, corn house, tool shed, and blacksmith shop), and farm buildings in various states of disrepair.
The original brick mansion house (circa 1850), consisted of three stories, as well as an attic and full basement. The first floor housed the school office, reception, and most likely the principal’s office. The second floor of the brick section was used for faculty and staff housing, and it is believed the third floor was a dormitory for students.
A frame addition on the east side of the original brick mansion became classrooms, one of which had a piano and may have been the music room. The second floor was also used as a student dormitory.
In July 1873, the Building Committee of the Board authorized a frame extension on the east end of the house beyond the frame addition. It became known as the Trustee’s Extension and had a large dining room on the first floor and classrooms on the second. At the rear of the extension was an L-shaped addition that housed a washroom, bakery, a stone annex with a kitchen and laundry, and a coal and woodshed.
In 1881, construction began on a new Main Building which opened in 1883 and Foxleigh was nicknamed “Old House.” Col. Allan continued to use Foxleigh as the Principal’s House and he and his wife raised their six children there. After 1885, the dining hall became a commercial-grade woodworking shop, the coal and woodshed became the Barnum Metal Shop, and the old library and classrooms on the second floor became the printing department where The Week was published and mailed. The mansion was destroyed by a fire on July 30, 1914.
