Brooks School was founded in 1926 by the Rev. Endicott Peabody, headmaster of Groton, who served as the first president of the board of trustees. Associated with him were Richard Russell, who gave the land and original buildings and who served for many years as secretary-treasurer of the board; the Reverend Sherrard Billings, senior master at Groton; James Jackson, a Groton graduate and trustee; Roger B. Merriman, also a Groton trustee and parent; and the Right Reverend Charles L. Slattery, a former Groton teacher and trustee. Mr. Peabody believed that there was a need for another small boarding school built on the Groton model. The school was to be named after Phillips Brooks, and the teaching was to be that of the Episcopal Church. Frank D. Ashburn, a graduate of Groton and Yale (1925), then at Columbia Law School, was appointed the first headmaster. The school opened September 29, 1927, with 14 boys in the first and second forms and two masters, a headmaster and a headmistress. Thereafter, one form was added each year until the school included all six forms. The first class graduated in 1932. After 46 years as headmaster, Frank D. Ashburn retired in 1973 (he died on October 2, 1997). H. Peter Aitken, who served as headmaster from 1973 to 1986, succeeded Mr. Ashburn. Lawrence W. Becker was the school’s third headmaster from 1986 until his retirement in 2008. John R. Packard was appointed head of school in 2008, making him the fourth leader in the school’s history. The school has changed from a six-year school of just under 200 boys to a four-year school of approximately 350 boys and girls.