The Black River Academy is a historic school building on High Street in the village of
Ludlow
Ludlow () is a market town in Shropshire, England. The town is significant in the history of the Welsh Marches and in relation to Wales. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road which bypasses the town. The t ...
,
Vermont
Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
. Chartered in 1835, the school served as the town high school until 1938. The present building, a
Richardsonian Romanesque
Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revival style incorporates 11th and 12th century southern French, Spanish, and Italian Romanesque ...
structure built in 1888, was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1972 for its architectural and historic educational significance. It presently houses the Black River Academy Museum, operated by the Black River Historical Society.
Description
The Black River Academy building stands on the south side of High Street, a short way west of the Ludlow village green. It is a three-story masonry structure, built out of load-bearing brick set on a granite foundation. It has a gabled roof with projection hip-roofed sections, and a four-story tower at one corner, topped by a truncated pyramidal roof. Windows are of a variety of sizes, but are generally set in round-arched openings. Bands of cut stone provide horizontal emphasis. The main entrance is in a deep recess under a round-arch opening. Roof lines of the main roof and tower feature corbelled brickwork at the eave.
History
Black River Academy was chartered in Ludlow in 1835 and operated as a school, serving as the Town of Ludlow's public
high school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
until 1938, when a new school was built. The original academy building burned early in the school's history, and the school operated in a church for 44 years until this building was built in 1888.
[History of Black River Academy]
, Black River Academy Museum website, accessed October 9, 2009
, Black River Academy Museum website, accessed October 9, 2009 Notable alumni of the Black River Academy include U.S. President
Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States from 1923 to 1929. Born in Vermont, Coolidge was a History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer ...
;
Rotary founder
Paul P. Harris;
John Garibaldi Sargent, who was
U.S. Attorney General
The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...
during Coolidge's presidency;
Vermont Governor William W. Stickney;
United States Senator
The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...
Ernest Willard Gibson
Ernest Willard Gibson (December 29, 1872June 20, 1940) was an American politician and lawyer from Vermont. A Republican Party (United States), Republican, he served in both the United States House of Representatives (1923-1933) and United Stat ...
; Vermont Supreme Court Justice
William H. Walker; and author and historian
Abby Maria Hemenway
Abby Maria Hemenway (October 7, 1828 – February 24, 1890) was an American teacher, author and historian from the state of Vermont.
Early life
Abby Hemenway was born in Ludlow, Vermont on October 7, 1828. She attended Black River Academy, af ...
.
[Some Famous Alumni of Black River Academy]
, Black River Academy Museum website, accessed October 9, 2009 After the school moved out, the building was used for a time as a
convalescent home.
Since 1972, the building has housed the Black River Academy Museum, a
museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...
of local history.
[
]
See also
*Ludlow Graded School
The Ludlow Graded School is a historic former school building at 10 High Street in the village of Ludlow, Vermont. Built in 1871–72, the school was for many years the primary school feeding the adjacent Black River Academy (on whose original si ...
, located next door on the original 1835 academy site
*
References
External links
Black River Academy Museum
{{Vermont High Schools Division IV
Defunct schools in Vermont
School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont
Museums in Windsor County, Vermont
History museums in Vermont
Buildings and structures in Ludlow (town), Vermont
National Register of Historic Places in Windsor County, Vermont
1835 establishments in Vermont