Trinity Hall, Harbinger of the Modern Delbarton
The modern Delbarton School began to take recognizable shape with the opening of Trinity Hall in 1959. The more ample classroom space allowed for increased numbers of day-hops and freed space for added resident students. Old Main remained a student dormitory, dining room, snack shop, and chapel. Great efforts to increase the number of resident students continued, but the suburbanization of the area presaged the coming flood of day student applicants. The 1960s were difficult days for even the most prestigious of traditionally all male boarding schools.
The enhancement of the prayer life of the monastic community was the central concern of Abbot Martin. Following the dedication of the new monastery on 11 July 1967, the bells for the Abbey Church were installed and rung for the first time at a ceremony of profession on 11 July. On 1 November 1967 the community began use of a Divine Office in English, newly permitted by the Second Vatican Council. On 8 December 1967 the newly installed organ in the Abbey Church was dedicated in a concert by Dennis Michno, organist of Trinity Church in New York City.
A new building designed as a dormitory by architect Victor Christ-Janer, the architect of the abbey complex, was the next major development at Delbarton. Ground was broken for Schmeil-O’Brien Hall, to be located behind Old Main where the former kitchen garden had been. The building opened to students in the school year of 1970-71. The older boarders, however, given their preference, chose to reside in Old Main rather than in the new dorm. Tradition trumped modernity.