BIO: BELLEFONTE ACADEMY, Centre County, Pennsylvania Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Wayne Barner Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/centre/ _______________________________________________ Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania: Including the Counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion: Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, Etc. Chicago: J. H. Beers, 1898. _______________________________________________ COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD, pages 66-69 BELLEFONTE ACADEMY.* Among the first settlers of what is now Centre county, were many persons of intelligence and culture, who fully appreciated the importance of education, and desired to establish some plan by which the youth of the vicinity - those of their own day and after generations-would be insured a liberal course of instruction. None were more desirous to accomplish this end than James Dunlop and James Harris, pro- COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 67 prietors of the town and the owners at that time (1800) of the land on which Bellefonte is located. When Centre county was organized by Act of February 13, 1800, these gentlemen granted to Andrew Gregg, William Swanzy and Robert Boggs, as trustees of the new county, certain "lots and lands in and adjoining the town of Bellefonte," one-fourth of the proceeds of which was to be used for the erection and support of an academy or public school in said county. By the Act incorporating "Bellefonte Academy," approved January S, 1805, the lands designed especially for educational purposes were transferred to the control of the board of trustees of that institution. In accordance with the requirements of the Act of incorporation, the trustees held their first meeting at the house of Benjamin Patton, in Bellefonte, on the first Monday of May 1805. By Act of January 9, 1806, two thousand dollars were granted to the Academy out of the State treasury for the erection of a building, one provision of said act being that "a number of poor children, not exceeding six, were to be educated gratis, but no such child should be taught longer than two years." The first principal of the Academy was Rev. Henry R. Wilson. He remained in charge till October, 1809, when he was transferred to the Presbytery of Carlisle. He was succeeded as principal by the Rev. James Linn (a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume), who was installed pastor at Bellefonte, April, 1810, and about the same time entered upon the duties of principal. During all his active years in Bellefonte he exercised a watchful care over the school and labored continually to promote its interests. For many years he was president of the board of trustees. After Dr. Linn, as a regular principal, came Chamberlain, who is spoken of, by one who knew him well, as a fine scholar and an estimable man. After him came Robert Baird, who taught from the summer of 1818 to the fall of 1819, when he entered Princeton Theological Seminary. Another of the early principals was Rev. J. B. McCarrel. He was a member of the Associate Reformed Church. Most of the teachers of the Academy were of the Presbyterian faith, though the institution was not, as some suppose, under the especial control of that denomination. It always was, and still is, free from so-called sectarianism, and open to all religions. The reason assigned for the Presbyterian complexion of the institution is, that the leading and most active educational spirits of the early times in Centre County were of that belief. The title to the land on which the Academy is situated was not vested in the trustees till June 12, 1823, when by deed of James Harris, the surviving proprietor of the town, and Nancy his wife, the title to the property was formally vested in the Academy corporation. Col. James Dunlop, the other proprietor, interested in this educational project, had died on September 15, 1821. A full settlement for proceeds from sale of lots had previously been made by the proprietors of the town with Jos. B. Shugert and John Benner, then commissioners of the county, on the 27th of April, 1816; there having then been paid to the commissioners the final balance of $2,716.38, a copy of which receipt is still "in hand." This project, represented in this settlement, was thus finally completed by this conveyance of the property. In October, 1824, Prof. Alfred Armstrong, a graduate of Dickinson College, became principal. At the time he assumed control there were but twelve pupils in attendance. The trustees at the beginning of Prof. Armstrong's principalship were Rev. James Linn, John Lowrey, Andrew Gregg, Sr... Thomas Burnside, Charles Huston, Hamilton Humes, John Norris, William Potter, John Blanchard and Franklin Smith, none of whom are now living. The next in order as principal seems to have been William E. Hamilton, but, as was the case with a number of Prof. Armstrong's successors, he occupied the position but a short time. John Livingston, perhaps, taught longer than any other. Like two at least of his predecessors, he was a graduate of Dickinson College. He entered upon his duties as principal in 1837, and continued to faithfully discharge them till 1845, when, owing to ill health he was compelled to sever his connection with the institution, and not long after died. On September 28, 1846, John Philips was employed as principal. He was probably also a graduate of Dickinson College, as he was recommended to the board of trustees by Prof. William H. Allen of that institution. Philips resigned September 4, 1847, when an invitation was extended to the former principal, Prof. Alfred Armstrong, to again take charge of the Academy, which he did, continuing several years. Rev. Mr. Pratt also acted as principal for several years. During the early history of the Academy it appears to have been attended only by boys - there being no female department, and the coeducation of the sexes seems not to have been adopted. There were times, however, during a temporary suspension of the Academy proper, when classes of young ladies were taught in the building by various teachers, among them Dr. Linn. About 1840 or '45 an additional building was erected adjoining the original structure, and COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 68 occupied for a number of years as a "Female Seminary," under the control of a distinct and separate board of trustees. At a meeting of the trustees of the Academy, held in 1852, Samuel Linn, James T. Hale and James Armor were appointed a committee "to take into consideration the propriety and expediency of uniting the two boards of the Academy and Female Seminary, and of using the building as a high school in connection with the public schools of this borough, and that they be instructed to correspond with such persons as they may choose in Carlisle and Philadelphia for the purpose of becoming acquainted with the high-school system adopted in those places." At a subsequent meeting this committee reported as follows: "That they have conferred with the board of trustees of the Female Seminary, and they express a willingness to surrender their rights, on condition that the Academy board pay the outstanding indebtedness of the Seminary; and thereupon resolved that the said committee be authorized and instructed to accept the proposition made by the Seminary board, provided the said indebtedness be specified by the trustees of the Female Seminary, and does not exceed one hundred and fifty dollars." It seems that the above terms proved to be satisfactory, for in a short time the Academy trustees had possession of the Seminary building, and thereafter conducted a coeducational school within its walls. For a number of years after 1854 the Academy, as a classical institution, was not in operation, the buildings being used for public and select school purposes. In 1868 the trustees of the Academy again took possession of the buildings, and at a meeting held March 23d of that year elected the Rev. J. P. Hughes principal. Besides the principals already mentioned as having had charge of the Academy at different times, there were quite a number of others who served in that capacity but short periods, or merely conducted English schools when the Academy was not in operation. On the 10th of November, 1874, a reunion of the pupils of the Academy was held in Bellefonte, it being the fiftieth anniversary of the institution. In an address delivered by Prof. Armstrong on that occasion, he gave the following description of the school room as it was when he took charge of it in 1824: "A room of moderate dimensions, with four windows, two facing the town on the east and two on the west toward the spring. The furniture - a few pine benches and two heavy oaken tables, sufficiently large for eight or ten boys to sit around each. These old-fashioned school desks bore the marks of sharp knives if not the sharp wits of preceding generations of youth. They were fearfully hacked from end to end, but the hardness of the material and thickness of the planks resisted the desolations of the knives and the ravages of years. There they stood through my time and perhaps long after. * * * A heavy old six-plated stove standing in the middle of the room, and a hickory broom in the corner, completed the accommodations of this classic apartment." In regard to the branches taught at that time, Mr. Armstrong said: "For three years or more, nothing was taught in the Academy, save sometimes a little mathematics, but the classic authors. It was Latin in the morning, and Latin and Greek in the afternoon; it was Latin and Greek on Monday, and Greek and Latin on Tuesday. Wednesday brought the same studies and Thursday the same. And Friday, what a blessed "repetition day," as it was called - a review of the whole week's previous study. The present principal is Rev. J. P. Hughes, who assumed the principalship in 1868 with fifteen pupils in attendance. The thoroughness of the work done immediately attracted many students to the school, necessitating improvements for their accommodation. In 1872 the facilities were further increased by the erection of a large brick dormitory. In 1892 the increasing interest in the institution demanded a thorough renovation of the school rooms, and the erection of a private residence for the Principal and his family, to which demand the trustees responded most cheerfully and fittingly. In the summer and fall of 1897 the trustees again were called upon to afford larger accommodations, the application for rooms coming from students from far and near. And again, equal to the occasion as they always had been, they fitted up several more rooms in an unused section of the main school building, furnishing every convenience of steam heat, etc., for every room, and making the Academy in every particular one of the most attractive and comfortable institutions to be found anywhere. The buildings, rooms and furniture of Bellefonte Academy of to day, as compared with the small buildings, single room, and "accommodations, of fifty years ago, present a most striking and pleasing contrast. As Latin and Greek constituted the principal studies of Prof. Armstrong's pupils, so they are yet, under Mr. Hughes, daily pursued, together with the Friday's reviews, to which have been added other branches, both useful and ornamental. Until September, 1876, the sexes were educated together under Mr. Hughes; at that time they were placed in sepa- COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 69 rate apartments with a lady principal in charge of the female department. During Mr. Hughes' principalship the school has grown from the small class of fifteen to about one hundred scholars, about equally divided between the sexes, and a corps of five assistants. Many of the pupils prepared by Mr. Hughes are taking high rank in some of the leading colleges of the country. In the year 1895 James R. Hughes, a graduate of Princeton College, became associate principal of the institution. The location of the academy is most beautiful, and the wisdom of those who placed it there cannot be too highly commended. Affording, as it does, a fine view of the entire town, and a large scope of the surrounding country, it is essentially attractive and desirable. The view to be had from the Academy is beautifully varied-the town lying below and encircling the eminence on which it is built, verdure-covered mountains in the distance, hills and valleys, cleared fields and blocks of woodland, winding streams, snow-white cottages, all spread in panoramic loveliness before the eye. Such a scene, combined with the healthfulness of the climate, the morality and intelligence of the community in which it is located, the course of training, both intellectual and moral, pursued at Bellefonte Academy, render it a most desirable place for the education of youth. _______ *Original Trustees of Bellefonte Academy (Act of Assembly of January 8,1805, Section 2, P. L. page 12.) - Henry R. Wilson (minister of the Gospel), James Dunlop, Roland Curtin, William Petriken, Robert McClanahan, John Hall (of the town of Bellefonte), William Steward (minister of the Gospel), Andrew Gregg, James Potter (of Potter township) James Duncan, John Hall, Jacob Hosterman (of Haines township), John Krider (of Miles township), Thomas Ferguson (of Ferguson township), Jacob Taylor (of Halfmoon township), David Whitehill (of Patton township), Richard Miles, Robert Boggs, Joseph Miles, John Dunlop (of Spring Township), William McEwen, Thomas McCalmon (of Centre township), John Fearon, Matthew Allison, James Boyd (of Bald Eagle township).