School History

For over 130 years, Maumee Valley Country Day School has been one of Northwest Ohio's greatest treasures. Originally founded in western New York as Miss Bryan’s Seminary, a highly regarded finishing and boarding school for girls, it moved to Toledo in 1884 and became The Smead School for Girls. The Smead School sought to recreate the atmosphere, camaraderie, and character-building aspects of the best college preparatory boarding schools while allowing students to return to their families at the end of the day.

It’s a tradition that continues today. In 1934, the school opened its doors in its current location, changed its name to Maumee Valley Country Day School, and admitted boys. Today, Maumee Valley Country Day School attracts students from across the country and the world from preschool through 12th grade and is Northwest Ohio’s only accredited, co-educational, non-sectarian, independent school.

MVCDS has been the foundation of my life. To this day, I thank my parents for sending me there. Everything became easier because of Maumee Valley: college, graduate school, finding a job, starting a career. The school opened me up to the world. Its greatest gift was giving me a compassion and desire to learn and live with people of diverse cultures and backgrounds.