In 1889, an art school for girls was established by Mary C. Wheeler, an artist and activist from Concord, Massachusetts.

[4] In 1910, Hope Building was constructed to provide living and dining facilities required by a growing student body and faculty.

Wheeler also purchased the Froebel Kindergarten School which admitted boys into its pre-primary grades until the 1950s.

She subsequently purchased an adjoining farm and buildings, bringing the total land holdings to slightly more than 120 acres (49 ha).

Mary Helena Dey, who had studied under educational theorist John Dewey at the University of Chicago, was named headmistress.

Later an arboretum, featuring several hundred unusual plants and trees, was established at the farm in Dey's name, but has been lost to time.

[4] In 1940, Mabel Van Norman was appointed the third headmistress on the retirement of Dey, Van Norman continued the school through the years of World War II and spent time visiting war-torn schools in the Netherlands and Belgium which Wheeler students helped to support with food and supplies.

In 1952, the Wheeler Annual Fund was established to support the school through donations by alumni, family and friends.

[4] WELH-FM (Wheeler's radio station at FM 88.1) went on the air in 1994 at the end of a 10-year process begun as an Aerie[clarification needed] student project.