Pinkerton Academy

In 1793, a classical high school was established in the eastern part of Londonderry (split off in 1827 as the town of Derry) and was maintained for twenty years by direct tax, tuition, and voluntary contributions. In 1814, Reverend Edward Parker asked Major John Pinkerton and Elder James Pinkerton, who had made significant contributions to the classical high school, to make the school permanent. Later that year, they obtained an act incorporating the school under the name Pinkerton Academy from the state legislature. The academy opened on December 4, 1815, as an all-male institution with an endowment of $16,000 by John Pinkerton "for the purpose of promoting piety and virtue and the education of youth in science, languages, and the liberal arts."[4]

John Morrison Pinkerton, son of Elder James

By 1817, the Pinkerton Academy accepted young women as well. An advertisement placed on May 17, 1817, in the Farmer's Cabinet, the only newspaper of the era serving that part of New Hampshire, stated, "The female apartment in this academy will be opened on Monday the 26th of May, instant; wherein will be taught all the useful and ornamental branches of female instruction usually attended in similar institutions. At the same time an additional instructor will be placed in the male apartment. The tuition is two dollars a quarter. Board may be had in respectable families, within a convenient distance of the Academy, on reasonable terms." According to the New Hampshire Historical Society, preceptresses of the academy were Sarah Fitz, 1816, Mary Knight, 1817–18, and Mary Adams, 1819. In 1821, Pinkerton stopped accepting young women, and the Adams Female Academy opened in Derry to educate young women. For the following years, the Scottish immigrants of Londonderry helped maintain the academy and also contributed funds for it. In 1853 the academy became coeducational with the erection of a ladies' boarding hall.[5]

The two original school buildings. The right building is the one created using John Pinkerton's bequest.

In 1881, upon the death of John Morrison Pinkerton, son of Elder James, the academy received a second bequest. The Trustees used these funds to increase the number of instructors and to provide for an enlarged and advanced program of studies. Changes in the curriculum and the completion of the Pinkerton Building in 1887 allowed Pinkerton students to choose from a variety of college and non-college bound programs of studies. The funds were also used to buy a library and to erect a new school building. This was a large erection, but was completed quickly and the scenic landscape accented the beautiful new buildings.[5]

Pinkerton continued to function as an independent day and boarding school until 1948. In 1949, the academy entered into an agreement with the town of Derry that marked a significant turning point in the school's history. As a result of the service agreement, Pinkerton educated all high school aged students who lived in Derry. The town of Derry paid for the school's services on a per pupil tuition basis. Although Pinkerton maintained its private school status, the academy began to function as a comprehensive independent academy.

In 1962, the town of Derry negotiated a long-term contractual agreement with Pinkerton Academy. The contract specified the terms and conditions under which Pinkerton's services were purchased. Over the next thirty years, additional communities (Chester, Hampstead, Auburn, Londonderry and Windham) signed service contracts with the academy. In response to the increased number of public school students attending Pinkerton, new facilities were built. Due to the changing needs and interests of this larger student population, Pinkerton once again developed new courses and fields of study while maintaining its existing college preparatory programs. In 1978, the citizens of Londonderry voted to end their tuition agreements with the academy and established Londonderry High School.[6] Students from Windham also no longer attend Pinkerton Academy and now attend Windham High School which opened in 2009.[7][8]

In recent years several new buildings have been constructed, including two new buildings in 2013–14 funded by a state grant for Career and Technical Education (CTE): CTE Annex and CTE South. These two buildings house Architecture, Drafting and Design, Environmental Science, Electrical Engineering, Engineering, Manufacturing, Cosmetology and Animal Science. In 2011, the Academy Building opened as the base for the Freshmen Academy model of transitioning 9th graders from middle school to high school, and the Arts and Humanities Center was dedicated in 2002 and is home to the Stockbridge Theater.

1909 advertisement for the school

Pinkerton Academy

Pinkerton Academy's property spans over 170 acres (0.69 km²); a 120-acre (49 ha) campus in Derry and a 50-acre (20 ha) forest preserve in Chester. The center of the academy's campus holds buildings where classes are taught, and the surrounding area is used for specific non-academic purposes. The main campus is 8 acres (32,000 m²), leaving 162 acres (0.66 km²) for extracurricular activities. There are 13 academic buildings which are located in the main campus: the Pinkerton Building, the South Building, the Career and Technical Education Annex, the Shepard Building, the Robert Frost Social Studies Wing, the Saltmarsh Library, the freshman Academy Building, the Low Vocational Building, the Ek Science Building, the Hackler Gymnasium, and the Arts & Humanities Building which holds the Stockbridge Theatre. Plays and local events are shown at the Stockbridge Theatre, which seats 850 people.[9]

Some buildings are dedicated to important people of the academy, such as Robert Frost, Alan Shepard, and Ivah A. Hackler. The Pinkerton Building was built in 1887 to replace the original school building. It is named after the Pinkerton family, the original founders of the school, and consists of two stories and a basement.[4] The building now holds Foreign Language classes and administrative offices.

In addition, there are smaller, non-academic buildings around the main campus: the Alumni Building (the original school building), Haynes House, Mackenzie House, Sugar House, and Piper Maintenance Building, among others. 95 acres (380,000 m²) are used for athletic fields, faculty housing, and farmland.[9]

Pinkerton's student body of 1919

Classes are divided into eight periods. Classes begin at 7:15 a.m. and end at 2:10 p.m.[10]

Pinkerton offers 17 Advanced Placement courses and many vocational electives such as accounting, agriculture, automotive technology, botany, consumer economics, computer programming, drafting, engineering, field biology, journalism, landscaping, and more.[11]

In 2005, 158 students took the Advanced Placement exams.[12] The academy also offers college bound and non-college bound courses in each core academic discipline.[13]

Of the class of 2006, 53% were admitted to four-year colleges, 18% went to two-year colleges and 29% were not college bound. The class had an average SAT score of 1525 (out of 2400).[13]

Pinkerton has chapters of FFA, National Honor Society, FBLA-PBL, SkillsUSA, FCCLA, DECA, HOSA and other national organizations. Students participate in academic competitions such as the Math Team, Granite State Challenge, and FIRST Robotics.[14]

Alan Shepard was part of the 1940 graduating class.

• Samuel Colcord Bartlett, former president of Dartmouth College[21]
• Samantha Brown, host of the Travel Channel's Great Hotels, Passport to Europe, and Passport to Latin America[22]
• Zachariah Chandler, mayor of Detroit (1851–52), U.S. Senator from Michigan (1857–75, 1879) and U.S. Secretary of the Interior (1875–1877)[21]
• Jim Coburn, Republican candidate in New Hampshire gubernatorial election, 2006[23]
• William A. Crombie, mayor of Burlington, Vermont[24]
• Tricia Dunn-Luoma, American Olympic ice hockey player[25]
• Charles Miller Floyd, Governor of New Hampshire, 1907–1909[26]
• George Cochrane Hazelton, United States Representative from Wisconsin, 1877–1883[27]
• Gerry Whiting Hazelton, United States Representative from Wisconsin, 1871–1875[28]
• Brendan James, singer, songwriter, and pianist[29]
• Edward J. Normand, prominent lawyer known for representing Lloyd's of London in the dispute over the extent that its insurance covered the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center
• Frank Nesmith Parsons, Chief Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court, 1902–1924[30]
• George Washington Patterson, United States Representative and Lieutenant Governor of New York, 1849–1851[31]
• Keri Lynn Pratt, film and television actress[32]
• William Adams Richardson, United States Secretary of the Treasury under the Grant Administration, 1873–1874[33]
• Zach Sanford, NHL hockey player, won 2019 Stanley Cup Final with St. Louis Blues[34]
• Andy Seuss, NASCAR driver[35]
• Alan Shepard, first American astronaut in space[36]
• Pamela Smart, convicted in 1991 of conspiracy to commit murder[37]
• Harriet Elizabeth Prescott Spofford, American novelist and poet[38]
• Aaron Fletcher Stevens, Brevet Brigadier General during the American Civil War, as well as a two-term U.S. congressman[39]

• Robert Frost, American poet, recipient of four Pulitzer Prizes; taught at Pinkerton 1906–1911[40]
• Jonathan Stanton, ornithologist, professor at Bates College

• New Hampshire Historical Marker No. 266: Pinkerton Academy / Old Academy Building

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pinkerton Academy.

• Pinkerton Academy website
• The Kaleidoscope (PDF)
• The Alumnus (PDF)