In 1955, the Connecticut General Assembly authorized funding for the construction of a junior-senior high school in Mansfield, Connecticut, to be administered by the University of Connecticut . The $1.2 million allocation was authorized in recognition of the need to training teachers for the schools of Connecticut ; to meet the needs for secondary education in the Town of Mansfield resulting from the problem created by the absence of any industrial wealth and by the presence of two large state institutions ( UConn and the Mansfield Training School ); and to assist the University in attracting and retaining high quality teaching and research staff. Before the school opened the training of teachers of Home Economics and Vocational Agriculture was also added to the charge. The school opened in the fall of 1958 as a division of the School of Education.
The University School was quickly named for Edwin Oscar Smith, acting president of the University (1908) and remained a division of the UConn School of Education until the summer of 1987. On July 1, 1987, the University conveyed the property and buildings of the school to the Town of Mansfield.
From the guide to the Edwin O. Smith High School Records., undated, 1956-1968., (Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center)
