The school operated until 1885, when litigation between a number of Quaker bodies forced the school to close. The matter settled, the school reopened in 1892, and apparently enjoyed great success: "Mr. W. P. Firth M.A., D.Sc., became principal. With his wife, formerly Miss Ella Rogers B.A., daughter of Samuel Rogers, a well known Toronto figure at that time the school prospered, and attendance grew rapidly. Students came from all over the Continent, as well as from Japan, Russia, China, Persia, Armenia, Australia, Central America and the West Indies. A large number of Jamaicans graduated from the school. Many local students attended both the preparatory, as well as the collegiate departments. In the early nineties the attendance taxed the capacity of the building." Such was the success of the school in the late 1890s that an alumni event in 1894 gathered some 400 students from all over the country.