The diocese of New Jersey was an unpromising field, but he took up his work there with characteristic vigour. In 1837 he founded St. Mary's Hall (now Doane Academy), to provide a classical education for girls. It was the first such boarding school for girls in the United States, in a period when numerous schools for girls were founded. The school was supported in part by a gift from his wife, Eliza Greene Callahan (married firstly James Perkins; second George Washington Doane).