Barre Academy

Barre Academy was a school in Barre, Vermont in operation from 1852 to 1885.

The institution was incorporated by the Vermont Legislature in 1849.[1] The school building was constructed in 1852,[1] and the school "opened on September 1, 1852 for the fall term".[2] It was "originally conceived as being supported by three religious denominations: Congregational, Methodist, and Universalist",[2] with the original board of trustees being "carefully determined so as to be equally representative of these denominations".[3] However, the bulk of the money was contributed by Congregationalists, and eventually they achieved control of the school, though it was nonsectarian in actual practice".[2]

Jacob Shedd Spaulding (1811-1880) was the principal of the Barre Academy for most of its existence, serving in that capacity from the opening of the institution until his sudden death in 1880.[1] Even before Spaulding's death, attendance at the school had declined somewhat,[2] and under its next principal, A.N. Wheelock (himself a Barre Academy alumni),[1] this decline continued until the closure of the school in 1885.[2] After the Barre Academy closed, the original building was sold and moved from the site, and the Spaulding School Building, named in Spaulding's honor, was built on the site.[2][4]