The River Arts Blog
A Brief History of the Original Peoples Academy
Posted December 15, 2007River Arts resident Historian, Dawn Andrews, compiled this overview of the history of The River Arts Center. Enjoy!
In the early 1800s, public education in Morristown and most of Vermont was limited to scattered one-room schoolhouses. If you wanted to continue beyond eighth grade, you had to pay your own way to the Lamoille County Academy—a “normal†school for teacher training in Johnson, the academy in Bakersfield or more distant private schools. Most families could not afford the tuition, room and board required to attend out-of-town schools.
In 1847, “some of the leading businessmen of the village,†led by Thomas Tracy, a local shopkeeper, proposed raising funds to build an academy in Morrisville. A few of the wealthier citizens opposed the plan and raising the hoped-for funds proved difficult. Nevertheless, the building was erected in forty days for about $750—spent primarily on “nails and glass,†and classes began in the fall of that year. It originally stood on the site where the Graded Building now stands.
According to local tradition, the name “Poor People’s Academy†started as a mocking term used by those who thought that only wealthy, upper-class children needed to have higher education, but the community adopted the nickname as a badge of honor.
In its first year, the new academy enrolled 36 male and 48 female students from 11 towns. The school’s 1847 catalog states “this institution, as its name implies is intended expressly for the people.†Students paid tuition for each course they attended. Languages, for example, cost $4.00 and drawing and painting $2.00. Out of town students boarded with local families for $1.25 per week. The constitution, written by the trustees, specified that the head of the academy should not be an atheist, but the school was to be non-sectarian. The school was progressive as well as democratic in character and coeducational when many academies in New England admitted only young men. In addition to courses in classical and modern languages, rhetoric, music, and the natural sciences, a local physician lectured on anatomy and physiology. By 1855 the academy also had a library and a geological collection.
The building is in the Greek Revival style, popular in Vermont from the 1830s until the Civil War. The gable front with wide corner pilasters and a continuous cornice forming a triangular pediment, surmounted by a belfry, was a common type for New
England school buildings. The same ‘temple’ form was also often used for town halls and churches. In 1850, Colonel E.B. Herrick donated a bronze bell, cast by Henry N. Hooper and Company of Boston.
In 1864, the Vermont Legislature abolished the school tax levied on families with students making education free for the first time. In April 1866, the trustees of Peoples Academy voted to transfer the school to Morristown School District One for “as long as wood grows and water runs.†They turned over the building, library, and school apparatus to the town for “as long as it shall maintain a high school, keep the building in repair, and meet all requirements.†The building continued as the Academy until 1874 when the town sold it to a private owner, and it was moved to its present location on Pleasant Street. A new building to house the high school and the graded school was erected on the old site.
On Pleasant Street, the building was owned by several local merchants who put on an addition and built several outbuildings including a blacksmith shop. It was used mainly as a grain store and the Lamoille Grange #233 began using the second floor in the 1890s. In 1924, the Grange bought the building from Carroll E. Lanpher who continued to lease the first floor for his grain store. Eventually, the Grange took over the whole building and built the kitchen in the addition section.
Over the next eighty-plus years, the Grange used the building for its membership meetings, social programs, and advocacy efforts that focused on the needs of local farmers and their families. In the 1950s, they had over 300 members. They supported the entire community by sharing the building with many local organizations and churches. In the late 1970s, they made many repairs to the structure’s exterior, including rebuilding the belfry—which had been removed a century before—to match historic photographs, and placed the original bell in the tower.
River Arts purchased the building in 2005 for use as a community arts center. It will be fully restored with a small addition to the rear and brought up to current safety and access codes. It will be used for arts education, small performances, related community activities, and more potluck suppers.
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