Barton Academy (Vermont)

Barton Academy was a high school in the town of Barton and also served surrounding towns for over a century. The high school (the Academy) was replaced by the Lake Region High School on September 11, 1967. The Academy alumni continue to meet annually. They fund scholarships for graduates of Lake Region. The building also housed the town's grammar school.

For Academy in Alabama, see Barton Academy.
Barton Academy
Address
137 Church Street
Barton, Vermont
Information
School typePublic high school
Founded1852
Closed1967
PrincipalBenjamin Hinman Steele (founding)
Raymond Mason (last)
Color(s)Orange and Black
NicknameBA

History

The Academy started in the fall of 1852 in a building on the location now occupied by the school parking lot. There is an early list of students who were enrolled.[1][2] It was chartered by the legislature in 1854.[3]

A listing of graduates from 1926, lists the first class as 1886.[4][5]

The cornerstone of the current building is marked "1907."[6] the project was the biggest building project, the town had ever seen. It cost $42,000. An Indian burial ground was discovered during the excavation. There is no record of what happened to those artifacts. The former school was moved across the street in 1909 and later used as a gymnasium and cafeteria. It was torn down in 1980.[7]

In the early 1900s, Barton Academy ranked eighth among all high schools, public and private, in Vermont.[8]

The Academy closed in 1967, replaced by the Lake Region Union High School. The former building, with the name, "Barton Academy and Graded School", carved on a 4.5 short tons (4.1 t) granite slab over the entryway,[7] is used as an elementary school.

An addition was completed in 1979.[7]

Architecture

Architectural historians Glenn Andres and Curtis Johnson commented that the school had a "finely proportioned central pavilion with quoina and a broken pediment, and a Palladian porch that screens a recessed entrance.." and "There is a finesse and logic to the composition that makes this village school more than a pastiche of derivative details, perhaps indicative of industrial Barton's commercial ties to major centers of taste."[9]

Principals
  1. Benjamin Hinman Steele, briefly when he was 20 in 1853 or so, a young graduate of Dartmouth and simultaneously studying for the law at the same time! Went on to become a judge on the Vermont Supreme Court and died at the age of 37[10]
  2. George W. Quimby - about 1859 to 1862.[11] Captain in Civil War, 4th Vermont Infantry, Company D. Killed December 13, 1862, at the Battle of Fredericksburg[12][13]
  3. Emilie M. Gleason - June 1877[14]

Athletics

The Academy fielded Basketball Teams for both boys and girls and a boys baseball team. It fielded a soccer team beginning about 1958. School colors were orange and black. The mascot was the Yellow Peril. The school's main rival was cross-town Orleans High School.

Recognition
  • State Class C Champions, Baseball 1951[18]

Notable graduates
  • Lee E. Emerson (1917), Governor of Vermont
  • Robert Kinsey (1965?) state representative from Craftsbury (1970-2000
  • Francis W. Nye (1936), Major General commanding the Sandia, NM Atomic Laboratory
  • Marion Redfield (1907) - elected to state House of Representatives 1956-?[3]

Notable Attendees
  • Wallace Harry Gilpin attended briefly in the late 1890s. Owned the Orleans County Monitor 1904-1953[3]
  • Frederick H. Pillsbury representative from Sutton in 1902. Attended BA in early 1890s.[19]
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References
  1. Rootsweb Archived July 17, 2010, at the Wayback Machine accessed March 31, 2008
  2. Mistakenly identified as "senior class." There was no such class separation then. A student was either ready to take the college entrance exam or not. Students matriculatred individually when they were ready. There were no classes beyond elementary for students who were not intending to attend college
  3. Young, Darlene (1998). A history of Barton Vermont. Crystal Lake Falls Historical Association.
  4. "RootsWeb.com Home Page". freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com.
  5. Early scholars were being tutored to take the college entrance exam, the only method of entering college then. There were no expectations of a formal "graduation" from a "high school" per se. A student would "matriculate" alone and could only tell if their tutoring was effective if they were admitted to the college of their choice. There was no formal training for children not attending college until after WW I and the educational revolution started by John Dewey
  6. Crystal Lake Falls Historical Association (June 6, 2007). Barton Academy turns 100 years old. the Chronicle.
  7. Taylor, Dan (December 2009). "Barton Academy and Graded School - A Village Icon Enters Its Second Century". Vermont's Northland Journal. 8 (9): 15–19.
  8. "Barton, Vermont - Town History". Vermont Folklore, Myths, Legends, Ghost Stories & More. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
  9. Gresser, Joseph (April 23, 2014). "A history of Vermont through architecture (review of Buildings of Vermont by Glenn M. Andres and Curtis B. Johnson)". The Chronicle. Barton, Vermont. pp. 1B.
  10. The Green Bag. Boston Book Company. 1894.
  11. However, the Orleans Lamoille Gazetteer significantly fails to mention Barton Academy in 1880
  12. "Extract" (PDF). vermontcivilwar.org.
  13. The Grand Army Post, Barton, was named the George W. Quimby Post #76. The GAR was the 19th century equivalent of the VFW
  14. Steiger, Ernst (1878). Steiger's Educational Directory for 1878. E. Steiger.
  15. O'Hara Family History Archived April 6, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  16. "Vermont Year Book". National Survey. 21 March 1962 – via Google Books.
  17. Gibson, Leanne Day (August 6, 2003). Park, museum offer a stroll through Barton's busy history. the Chronicle.
  18. Creaser, Richard (June 13, 2007). Barton Academy celebrates (over) 100 years. the Chronicle.
  19. http://www.geneabios.com/vermont/caledonia.htm retrieved August 3, 2007

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