Our Founder, Mary Sill Baker

In 1949, inspired by the idea that a community of families could work together to provide young children with a unique and dynamic education, a mother, educator and artist named Mary Sill Baker founded the Stevens Cooperative Playschool on the campus of Stevens Institute of Technology. Alongside fellow campus mothers Jean Campbell, Eleanor Jones, Ruth Llanso, Mildred Partel and Elizabeth Stephenson, she helped formally incorporate the school and establish its first Board of Trustees.

Mary was born in 1913 and raised in Massachusetts. She attended Mount Holyoke College, where her curiosity and creativity began to take shape. She later met her husband, Robert Hardy Baker, at an art school fair in Provincetown. They married in 1937 and moved to Hoboken in 1940 when Robert joined the Stevens Institute staff.

In November 1946, after the birth of her three children, Ashley, Jody and Bob, Mary gathered 17 faculty children into what began as an informal playgroup. Two and a half years later, that playgroup became a school, opening its doors to the wider community and setting something much bigger in motion.

Mary had a deep love for children and a constant drive to learn. She read widely about child development, journaled often and brought an artist’s eye to the world around her. “She was a very informed and curious person,” her granddaughter Megan shared in 2023. She painted in oils, kept art supplies close at hand and built a home where creativity was part of daily life.

The Baker family lived throughout Hoboken on Washington Street, Castle Point and River Street. Mary’s daughter Ashley remembered watching the RMS Queen Mary from their apartment and witnessing her parents step in to help during the Hoboken dock fires of the 1940s.

In the early 1950s, the family returned to Massachusetts, where Mary continued her commitment to education. She welcomed her youngest son, Frank, in 1952 and later served as president of the Westborough school board for many years.

For a time, Mary’s story faded from the day-to-day life of Stevens, but the school she built did not. When Stevens reconnected with her family in 2023, they were astonished to learn that her small playschool had grown into a thriving institution serving more than 450 students through 8th grade.

Mary’s vision still shapes this community. Today, we honor her through the Mary S. Baker Award, which recognizes individuals whose commitment, generosity and impact continue to define and strengthen Stevens. Her legacy is not just remembered, it is lived every day.