Betts Academy was a well-known private academy in

Stamford, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 2020 ...

that operated from 1838 to 1908.

History

The school was founded in 1838 in North Stamford by James Betts, a Congregational Church deacon originally from

Wilton, Connecticut Wilton is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 18,503. In 2017, it was the sixth-wealthiest town per capita in Connecticut, the wealthiest U.S. state per capita. Officially recog ...

. Later his son, William J. Betts, became principal of the school, and the Academy was relocated to Strawberry Hill overlooking Long Island Sound in Stamford. The school burned in a fire in 1908 and was closed that year."SCHOOLBOYS SAVE MATES FROM FIRE; Two Students Hung from Window Sill of Old Betts Academy." ''New York Times,'' Jan. 23, 1908

Notable alumni

Henry Osborne Havemeyer Henry Osborne Havemeyer (October 18, 1847 – December 4, 1907) was an American industrialist, entrepreneur and sugar refiner who founded and became president of the American Sugar Refining Company in 1891. Havemeyer was the third generation of h ...

, businessman *

Theodore Havemeyer Theodore Augustus Havemeyer (May 17, 1839 – April 26, 1897) was an American businessman who was the first president of the U.S. Golf Association and co-founder of the Newport Country Club, host to both the first U.S. Amateur and the first U.S. ...

, businessman, co-founder of United States Golf Association and U.S. Open *

Eugene O'Neill Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of realism, earlier ...

, Playwright

References

{{reflist Private schools in Connecticut Defunct schools in Connecticut