Note Type
Historical NoteNote
Notes: In the early 1930's, Mae McMillan began tutoring children of winter visitors to Fort Lauderdale. She helped them with assignments so they could return to their home schools with their studies up to date. The high caliber of her teaching soon attracted full-time local students, and in 1934 she founded her school in rented rooms in the old Elks Club Building (second schoolhouse/Broward County Courthouse) in downtown Fort Lauderdale. Stimulated by Mrs. McMillan's foresight and dedication, scholastic improvements brought increased enrollment and a pressing need for physical expansion. In 1939, she moved her 100 students to an eight-acre site on East Broward Boulevard and added a boarding department. It was here that Mrs. McMillan established the name of Pine Crest School. Space was limited in the former hospital building, so she acquired acreage across a side street for use as an elementary school. Pine Crest remained on the downtown campus for 26 years.
Pine Crest School became accredited during those years and developed a reputation as an excellent college preparatory school. Accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) was followed by membership in the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), the Florida Council of Independent Schools (FCIS), and numerous other professional groups. To better serve the needs of the expanding community's population, the school was incorporated as a non-profit institution in 1959 and moved in 1965 to an entirely new 49-acre campus in northeast Fort Lauderdale.Note Type
Historical NoteNote
Mae McMillan 1898-1985
Born in Corning, Iowa in 1898, Mae McMillan was raised with a love and appreciation for education. While living at home with her parents, Mae taught French, Latin, algebra, and English at her old high school to pay for summer courses at the University of Chicago. While furthering her education, Mae met Albert McMillan, a South Dakota lawyer and judge. After a brief courtship, Mae and Albert married before moving to Fort Lauderdale in 1925. Prior to the move, Mae secured a position at Dania High School teaching a range of subjects from French to physics. Mae’s hard work and dedication supported her family as Albert studied for his Florida Bar certification.
Together, the McMillans navigated life’s difficulties, including the 1926 hurricane and the Great Depression. Though difficult times, tourist families continued to flock to Fort Lauderdale, and with them, children in need of tutoring. Mae McMillan and partner Edna Herriot answered the call by operating Fern Hall as a one-to-one tutoring school for winter students. In 1939, with more than 100 students, Mae signed the lease for what was previously the Pine Crest Sanatorium to found the McMillan-Pine Crest School. Over the years, Mae continued to advance her own education along with expanding Pine Crest School to second campus on Broward Blvd. Dr. McMillan’s dedication to her school, students, and community was evident as her teaching career continued into her late 80s, leaving a proud legacy in Fort Lauderdale education.
Pine Crest art class.