A History Lesson of Fryeburg Academy

In this day and age when high school students are often tempted by outside influences and more, wouldn't you like to send your teenagers, if not to a convent or a seminary, then at least to a town "noted for its healthful location, its beautiful scenery, and its freedom from places of temptation?"

That was a description of the village of Fryeburg, Maine, in an 1882 Fryeburg Academy catalogue. An 1840 advertisement for the academy stated, "This institution is located in one of the most pleasant and healthy villages in New England, and parents and others will find it a very desirable place to send their children." It's these idyllic qualities which first lured students (and teachers) to the academy and have continued to do so throughout the school's 194 years.

"There is a strength of education learned outside of the classroom," said Harry True, headmaster of the academy from 1979 to the present. "The advantage of going to the academy, as I see it as an educator and a father, is that the rural student has the opportunity to be educated with all types and races of people."

And, vice versa. All types and races of people have the opportunity to be educated with the rural student, in a rural setting—something parents might consider even more important.

Certainly, the setting is not as rural as it once was. The town of Fryeburg was first settled in 1763. John Stuart Barrows, who wrote the definitive history of Fryeburg, states in his book Fryeburg, An Historical Sketch, "In the earliest years of Fryeburg the settlers had too much to do in establishing homes and in making a living to give proper attention to education. This was not from lack of appreciation of the necessity for education of the youth, for the men of the community were educated, several having had the instruction of Harvard College; others less fortunate had the training of rough life, which they were determined their children should not be obliged to go through."

By 1777, townspeople allotted monies for the building and maintenance of schools, and an elementary system was begun, giving the town four schools by 1784 (a number which rose to a high of 17 in 1825, with schools located every few miles throughout the Fryeburg, Brownfield, North Fryeburg, Fryeburg Harbor, and Hiram area). The next move was toward "higher" education, and in 1791, representatives from Fryeburg, Brownfield, and Conway met to consider the establishment of a school which would instruct the children of the area in more advanced English studies and in Latin and Greek—"the branches of literature as may render them virtuous, useful and ornamental to society," as the founders wrote in their petition for sanction to the General Court of Massachusetts (Maine was a part of Massachusetts until 1820).

Barrows states, "They discussed the proposition with such earnestness that they immediately obligated themselves to go ahead with the undertaking, and subscribed sufficient money to build a school house, equip, and support it." The first schoolhouse was a small, square, wooden structure located on Pine Hill (now Bradley Memorial Park, across from the Fryeburg Post Office), which accommodated approximately 50 students. In asking for sanction, the school's founders also requested a grant, "So that the place which hath been in times past the seat of a Savage nation that were a scourge and terror of the Eastern Country, may henceforth become the seat of Knowledge and Virtue and prove a blessing to rising generations and millions yet unborn."

Obviously, the founders of the academy were thinking big, and so did the Massachusetts General Court as it generously granted the academy 12,000 acres of land which the trustees have disposed of over the years to meet expenses.

A high level of instruction has always been something to strive for at the academy. An 1861 advertisement for the institution stated, "Diligent and earnest students may be assured that NO PAINS WILL BE SPARED BY THE TEACHERS." Of the 50 men who have served as preceptors, principals, or headmasters during the history of the academy, 25 have been graduates of Bowdoin College and 12 have been graduates of Dartmouth College. Many of those who served in these roles, and also some instructors, went on to achieve fame in education, law, medicine, or the ministry.

Most notable of these was Daniel Webster, who served as preceptor at Fryeburg Academy in 1802. The son of a farmer and fresh out of Dartmouth College, the noted orator was a mere 19 years of age when he assumed his duties. He was paid $350 per annum and, in his autobiography, Webster noted that it was, "...no small thing, for I compared it not with what might be before me, but what was actually behind me. It was better, certainly, than following the plough."

In addition to greatly influencing his students, Webster made many friends during his short stay in the village and even as he became more prominent nationally, he continued to communicate with acquaintances in Fryeburg and retain an interest in the town and its academy.

Webster only stayed a year, feeling the call to greater things, but recommended a college friend to replace him. Trustees followed his advice and Rev. Amos J. Cook took over and held the reins of the school for 30 years, during which time some progressive changes were made.

The first of these was a move to a bigger building. After much argument over different locations, including one out of the village of Fryeburg and closer to the center of the township, the site of the academy was moved up Main Street from Pine Hill to a place near the present site. The new building was wooden, but it was a two-story structure with the interior designed by Rev. Cook himself. It even had a bell in the belfry—"... the first bell to sound over the Pe-quawket region," according to Barrows.

With the new and impressive building, which was dedicated on June 4, 1806, came another, even more progressive innovation: education of females. For the summer term of 1806, the townspeople drew up a petition calling for female education at the academy. It read, "Female education is a subject too important to be neglected—as a proper education of the rising generation depends on the prosperity and happiness of our country—the mind uninformed and unpolished is like the diamond in the quarry—while an improved and correct understanding is an ornament of human nature." And not only did the petition want people to sign that they were in favor of the proposal, it also requested that they pledge a sum of money to help pay for the services of a headmistress to deal with the new division of the.student body.

Many signed and many contributed and although, at first, education for the females was meant to include such things as homemaking skills, the arts and music, the girls who attended Fryeburg soon were exposed to literature, mathematics, and the classics just as the boys were.

During the 1800s, students who attended Fryeburg Academy could choose from three different courses of study. These included the Classical, the Academic, and the General. Both the Classical and the Academic required intensive studies of the Greek and Latin languages along with history, English, and mathematics. Students were required to learn Greek and Latin grammar and to read such classics as Harkness' Caesar, Cicero, Virgil, and Homer's Iliad. Students who just took the general courses could graduate in fewer years because they were taught the basics and were not required to take Latin, Greek, German or French.

Latin, and studies of the classics were required if a student was planning on going on to college. Even as "late" as 1921 when Fryeburg resident Harry K. Eastman graduated, four years of Latin was required if he wanted to attend Bowdoin College.

During his first year of school, Eastman traveled to the academy from his family home in Chatham, a distance of 12 to 13 miles. "My brother and I would bike into town on Monday morning," Eastman recalled, "board with a family in town during the week, then bike home again on Friday afternoon." The, boys only had to do this for a short time before the family made the move to the "big city" and were transplanted from Chatham to Fryeburg.

Coming from a farming family, Eastman, during his freshman year, chose the agricultural courses the academy was offering. "I soon decided I didn't want to be a farmer," Eastman explained, "and I switched over to the academic courses, but had to take a special Latin course at night to be able to have credit for four years of Latin so I could get into Bowdoin."

Just as the school started to grow and enhance its reputation during the first half of the 19th century, two incidences slowed its progress. The first of these, the burning of the impressive school building, occurred in 1851 under questionable circumstances. No one was ever prosecuted for the deed, but Barrows wrote that the "...building with contents was burned by an incendiary who was the tool of some disaffected students." Barrows never explains why the students were disaffected, or why, if the above was the belief of the authorities, these same students were not held accountable.

After housing the school in temporary buildings for two years, a new building—the main building of the present academy— was completed in the fall of 1853. Designed by Boston architect, Gridley J.F. Bryant, and featuring stone work by Ammi Cutter, the new academy building was made of brick and granite, was two-storied and contained roomy, high-ceilinged classrooms. It was, and still is, an appropriate setting for the teaching of the high standards of Fryeburg Academy.

Just as things were getting back to normal at the school, the Civil War broke out. Teachers were called to duty and young sons were needed at home to help out in place of their absent fathers. As a result, the academy was forced to close its doors from the fall of 1861 to the spring of 1862--the only time since its opening in 1792 that the Fryeburg school did not operate.

The school did start back up again for the fall term of 1862 and stayed much the same, with the same curriculum and the same number of students, usually about 100 for the entire school, for the next 50 years. As it offered college preparatory courses, as well as courses designed "to afford the means of a thorough preparation for business, and for the professions," students traveled from great distances and from adjoining communities to attend.

Eastman, who is one of three survivors of the 18 who graduated with him in 1921, remembers the students from Bartlett, Jackson, and the Conways who rode the train daily to and from their homes to attend the academy. Helen Nute, of the Fryeburg Academy class of 1913, was one of those who had to catch a train to school each day. "The train started from Bartlett and in those days you had to walk to be able to catch it," said Nute. "I'd leave my house each morning before six to get the train. It would stop for the others who would get on at Redstone and at Center Conway," she added. "It took a full half-hour to get to Fryeburg, then we'd have another half-mile walk to the school in all kinds of weather." Harvey Dow Gibson, who achieved fame and wealth as a financier, was a North Conway native who rode the trains and went on to graduate from the school in 1898.

Gibson, one of the most illustrious to graduate from the school, never forgot his alma mater and his generosity to the school conveniently coincided with the tenure of the great innovator at Fryeburg, Head-master Elroy 0. LaCasce, who directed the academy from 1922 to 1955, the years of its greatest growth and change. LaCasce, who inherited a small staff and a relatively small number of students, actively encouraged and recruited boarding students, reinstituted and coached the sport of football, and also oversaw the expansion of the physical plant of the school.

The first major change was the construction, in 1924, of the Harvey D. Gibson Gymnasium, which, at the time, boasted of one of the largest basketball floors in the state. (Harry Eastman remembered his high school basketball games which were played on the uneven floors of a local barn.) Homes were purchased to serve as dormitories, and soon the expansion of the school population was such that new classroom space was needed, prompting the construction, in 1930, of the Curtis and Cutter Halls, the two identical wings on either side of the original brick building. The growth of the school did not stop with the retirement of LaCasce in 1955. Throughout the '50s and '60s, new brick residential halls were built in addition to the Harvey Dow Gibson Recreation Center in 1957, the Converse Athletic Fields in 1962, and the Gibson Science wing in 1963. The latest additions to the school have been the Clarence E. Walker Industrial Arts Center in 1978, and the Elroy O. LaCasce wing, just completed in 1984. Currently the school is working on a new baseball field to be dedicated to the memory of 1985 graduate and outstanding athlete Vincent Manoriti who died in an automobile accident in August 1985.

This week, the doors have opened on another school year at Fryeburg Academy. Headmaster True notes that in its 194th year, the school's enrollment is fast approaching its peak number of 567 which it hit in 1968-69 before the state-ordered reorganization of the school districts. "The area is more heavily populated now," said True, "plus we are at our top figures for the dormitories. I think we are growing because we are still offering the best of the public schools—advanced curriculum and innovative studies—and the best of the private—small classes combined with well-trained teachers. To keep growing," he added, "we need to assess what we are and where we're going on a yearly basis."

Despite the growth and all the changes that the town and the academy have undergone, the first part of an 1847 academy catalogue description of its location still holds true—"The Academy is located in a delightful spot—retired and still. Fryeburg is justly noted for its variety of beautiful retreats, in the vicinity of the Academy. Young gentlemen and ladies will find here society of the highest order." Parents and teachers at the academy must hope that the second part is still true also: "Few places are so admirably calculated to induce habits of study."

Editor's Note (from 1986): The author wishes to acknowledge the invaluable information gleaned from the book Fryeburg, An Historical Sketch by John Stuart Barrows, copywright by Pequawket Press in Fryeburg, 1938; and to thank Mary Ellen Brown of the Fryeburg Academy Alumni Office for her help in researching this article.