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Fryeburg Academy

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}

{{Infobox school

| name = Fryeburg Academy

| image = Fryeburg Academy main building.jpg

| caption = Main building

| established = {{start date and age|1792}}

| type = Private, Boarding

| head_name = Head of School

| head = Joseph R. Manning

| city = Fryeburg

| state = Maine

| country = United States

| streetaddress = 745 Main Street

| zipcode = 04037

| coordinates = {{coord|44.0200|-70.9754 |format=dms |region:US-ME_type:edu |display=inline,title}}

| campus = Rural, 238 acres (1 km2)

| enrollment = {{plainlist|

  • 650 total
  • 185 boarding
  • 465 day}}

| faculty = 53

| class = 15 students

| ratio = 11:1

| athletics = 40 teams

| colors = Blue and White

| mascot = Raider

| homepage = {{URL|http://www.fryeburgacademy.org/}}

}}

Fryeburg Academy is a private secondary school located in Fryeburg, Maine. The academy was founded in 1792, making it the oldest high school in Maine and one of the oldest private schools in the United States.{{Cite web |last=Fox |first=Cooper |date=2023-07-27 |title=Were You Lucky Enough To Attend The Oldest High School In Maine? |url=https://b985.fm/were-you-lucky-enough-to-attend-the-oldest-high-school-in-maine/ |access-date=2023-11-08 |website=B98.5 |language=en}} Daniel Webster was one of the first administrators, teaching at the school for a year.{{Cite web |last=Scott |first=Tim |date=2016-10-07 |title=White Mountain Chronicles: The Academy and Daniel Webster |url=https://www.conwaydailysun.com/news/white-mountain-chronicles-the-academy-and-daniel-webster/article_d636c7c4-9dbf-5246-bdb1-c79a6659ffe8.html |access-date=2023-11-08 |website=The Conway Daily Sun |language=en}}

Boarding students come from across the United States, North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. The Academy also serves as the high school for the MSAD 72 school district. Around 75% of the school's student population comes from the local school district.{{Cite web |last=French |first=Edward |date=2022-11-20 |title=Private schools' public funding raises concerns |url=https://themainemonitor.org/private-schools-public-funding-raises-concerns/ |access-date=2023-11-08 |website=The Maine Monitor |language=en-US}}

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) categorizes the school as private.{{cite web|url=https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pss/privateschoolsearch/school_detail.asp?Search=1&Zip=41093&Miles=20&ID=00563482|title=FRYEBURG ACADEMY|publisher=National Center for Education Statistics|access-date=2024-03-11}}

History

Fryeburg Academy was founded in 1792, replacing an earlier public schoolhouse. From its inception, the academy was closely linked to Bowdoin College.{{Cite web |title=Fryeburg Academy, ca. 1777 |url=https://www.mainememory.net/record/17406 |access-date=2023-11-08 |website=Maine Memory Network |language=en}}

Daniel Webster served as the school's preceptor in 1802. Webster served just one year; his successor, Rev. Amos Cook, would serve over three decades. Cook grew the academy's stature considerably, and attempted to obtain books and other materials from former President Thomas Jefferson, with the help of another former president, John Adams, in 1815.{{Cite web |title=Founders Online: Amos J. Cook to Thomas Jefferson, 18 December 1815 |url=http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-09-02-0164 |access-date=2023-11-08 |website=founders.archives.gov |language=en}} Jefferson supplied a handwritten letter from George Washington, which Cook kept as a private keepsake; it was sold at auction in 2006 for $273,600.{{Cite web |title=Founders Online: Thomas Jefferson to Amos J. Cook, 21 January 1816 |url=http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-09-02-0243 |access-date=2023-11-08 |website=founders.archives.gov |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Washington's Letter To Jefferson Leads Freeman's Americana Day - Antiques And The Arts WeeklyAntiques And The Arts Weekly |url=https://www.antiquesandthearts.com/washingtons-letter-to-jefferson-leads-freemans-americana-day/ |access-date=2023-11-08 |language=en-US}}

During Cook's tenure, Fryeburg Academy moved to its current campus. The celebrated painter Rufus Porter, who would go on to found Scientific American, enrolled at Fryeburg Academy in 1804. Cook may have helped Porter obtain support for his first published work, Martial Musician's Companion, in 1814.{{Cite web |last=fatlinestudios.com |first=FATLINE- |date=2020-09-03 |title=Rufus Porter, Art, and Enterprise in Portland, Maine {{!}} Americana Insights |url=https://americanainsights.org/essays/rufus-porter-art-and-enterprise/ |access-date=2023-11-08 |language=en-US}}

Fryeburg Academy has always been a co-ed institution, although men and women received different instruction in the school's early years.{{Cite news |last=Cummings |first=Karen |date=May 18, 1984 |title=The Founding of Fryeburg Village |work=The Mountain Ear |url=https://www.mtearchronicles.com/single-post/1984/05/18/the-founding-of-fryeburg-village |access-date=November 8, 2023}}

By the mid-19th century, Maine had at least two dozen private academies, plus Fryeburg Academy. These institutions served local communities and offered room and board. The state began standardizing its education system, requiring compulsory, public education, in 1873, and the number of public-serving private academies in Maine has since fallen to less than half of its 19th century peak.{{Cite web |last=Burnham |first=Emily |date=September 27, 2022 |title=Why Maine has private high schools that serve public students |url=https://observer-me.com/2022/09/27/news/why-maine-has-private-high-schools-that-serve-public-students/ |access-date=2023-11-08 |website=Piscataquis Observer |language=en-US}}

Elroy O. LaCasce served as principal of Fryeburg Academy for thirty-three years.{{Cite book |last=Lacasce |first=Steward |title=The Mr. and Mrs. of Fryeburg Academy |publisher=Aventine Press |year=2005 |isbn=9781593302658}} The LaCasce Dining Room on campus is named for him.{{Cite web |title=17. LaCasce Dining Room |url=https://www.fryeburgacademy.org/campus-map?pk=16485 |access-date=2023-11-08 |website=Fryeburg Academy |language=en}} His youngest son, John Steward LaCasce, founded Burlington College in 1972, and served as its president until 1994.

In the early morning hours of October 12, 2005, a fire destroyed the Gibson Gymnasium at Fryeburg Academy. The fire was determined to be arson, and two former students were charged.{{Cite web |title=Fryeburg Academy fire trial begins |url=http://archive.bangordailynews.com/2006/08/22/fryeburg-academy-fire-trial-begins/ |access-date=2016-07-15 |website=The Bangor Daily News |agency=Associated Press}} Financier Bion R. Cram, an alumnus, bequeathed $15 million to help rebuild the school's facilities and establish scholarships for students.{{Cite web |date=November 6, 2010 |title=Fryeburg Academy Receives $15 Million Bequest |url=https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/fryeburg-academy-receives-15-million-bequest}}

Notable alumni and faculty

  • Anna Barrows, early 20th century cooking lecturer
  • Nathaniel S. Benton, New York politician{{cite book|last=Harlow|first=Samuel Ralph and Boone, H. H.|title=Life Sketches of the State Officers, Senators, and Members of the Assembly of the State of New York, in 1867|year=1867|publisher=Weed, Parsons, Printers|page=[https://archive.org/details/lifesketchessta01boongoog/page/n61 50]|url=https://archive.org/details/lifesketchessta01boongoog}}
  • John W. Dana, former Maine Governor{{cite web|url=http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_maine/col2-content/main-content-list/title_dana_john.html|title= Maine Governor John Winchester Dana|publisher= National Governors Association |access-date= December 13, 2013}}
  • James Farrington, US Congressman{{cite web|url= http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=F000033|title=FARRINGTON, James, (1791 - 1859)|publisher= Biographical Directory of the United States Congress |access-date= December 13, 2013}}
  • Harvey Dow Gibson, financier{{cite web|url= http://www.fryeburgacademy.org/podium/default.aspx?t=6648&tn=11.+Gibson+Music+Hall&lid=13411&ptid=111804&pttid=2&sdb=1|title=Gibson Music Hall|publisher= Fryeburg Academy |access-date= December 13, 2013}}
  • Spalding Gray, actor and monologist{{cite book|last=Gray|first=Spalding|title=The Journals of Spalding Gray|year=2012|publisher=Random House LLC|page=40|isbn=9780307474919|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7Mj9x23iWJQC&q=Spalding+Gray+fryeburg+academy&pg=PA40-IA2}}
  • Joseph M. Harper, US Congressman and Acting Governor of New Hampshire{{cite web|url= http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000224|title=HARPER, Joseph Morrill, (1787 - 1865)|publisher=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress|access-date= December 13, 2013}}
  • Rufus Porter, painter and founder of Scientific American{{cite book|last=Hammond|first=Karen T.|title=Backroads & Byways of New England: Drives, Day Trips & Weekend Excursions (Backroads & Byways)|year=2011|publisher=The Countryman Press|page=212|isbn=9781581578911|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uYrtc9hDz9oC&q=Rufus+Porter+fryeburg+academy&pg=PA212}}
  • Marc Murphy (chef), Celebrity Chef{{cite web |url=https://twitter.com/fryeburgacademy/status/108931957420855296|title=Check out Marc Murphy '88 on Good Morning America|year=2011 |access-date=2015-05-06 |publisher=Twitter}}
  • James W. Ripley, US Congressman{{cite web|url= http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=R000266|title=RIPLEY, James Wheelock, (1786 - 1835)|publisher=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress|access-date= December 13, 2013}}
  • David S. Rohde, New York Times investigative reporter{{cite web|url= http://www.fryeburgacademy.org/ftpimages/371/download/Scenes%20Cover%20Fall%202011%20-%20FULL%20VERSION.pdf|title= Scenes Fall 2011|publisher= Fryeburg Academy|access-date= December 13, 2013|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130204075432/http://www.fryeburgacademy.org/ftpimages/371/download/Scenes%20Cover%20Fall%202011%20-%20FULL%20VERSION.pdf|archive-date= February 4, 2013|url-status= dead}}
  • Casey Sherman, NY Times bestselling author of The Finest Hours, Bad Blood and Search for the Strangler{{cite web|url= http://www.itsacrimeradio.com/guests/Casey-Sherman-1|title=It's A Crime Radio|publisher=It’s A Crime Radio|access-date= December 13, 2013}}
  • Daniel Webster, lawyer and statesman (former headmaster){{cite web|url= http://www.fryeburgacademy.org/podium/default.aspx?t=6648&tn=6.+Webster+Hall&lid=13406&ptid=111804&pttid=2&sdb=1|title=Webster Hall|publisher= Fryeburg Academy |access-date= December 13, 2013}}
  • David Woodsome, member of the Maine Senate from 2012- to present and former faculty.

Images

File:Fryeburgacademybell.JPG|The Mack Bauscher bell tower atop the oldest part of the school.

File:Fryeburgacademylib.JPG|The Bion R. Cram Library at night.

References

{{reflist}}

External links

  • [http://www.fryeburgacademy.org/ Website of Fryeburg Academy]

{{authority control}}

Category:Educational institutions established in 1792

Category:Private high schools in Maine

Category:1792 establishments in Maine

Category:Schools in Oxford County, Maine

Category:Fryeburg, Maine

Category:Boarding schools in Maine