New Ipswich Academy (also known as New Ipswich Appleton Academy) was an historic private academy in

New Ipswich, New Hampshire New Ipswich is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 5,204 at the 2020 census. New Ipswich, situated on the Massachusetts border, includes the villages of Bank, Davis, Gibson Four Corners, Highbridge, New ...

, which operated from 1789 to 1968, then re-opened privately from 1969 to 1974.

History

The New Ipswich Academy was chartered in 1789 and was later renamed Appleton Academy after benefactor Samuel Appleton, the largest early donor to the school. It was the second oldest academy chartered in New Hampshire after Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter. New Ipswich Academy had a close relationship with

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

. It would also serve as high school for the nearby communities of Mason and Greenville. The academy closed in 1968. In 1969, construction of Mascenic Regional High School was completed in New Ipswich. In 1969, Appleton Academy became a college-preparatory private school for boys, run by Charles Markham, formerly a football coach at Brown University and educator at

The Winchendon School The Winchendon School is an elite, coeducational, preparatory boarding and day school composed of two campuses; one in Massachusetts, and another in Herald Square, Manhattan, New York. Founded in 1926, The Winchendon School has an average class ...

. Several students came from the local community, and the remainder came from throughout the United States and as far away as

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

. Appleton consisted of grades 9-12 and postgraduate students. Appleton was known for its fine preparatory education as well as its sports programs. Their 1970 football team was undefeated, un-tied and un-scored upon, scoring no less than 50 points per game and only fielding 15 players. Appleton played other prep schools like ( Phillips Exeter Academy, Mt Hermon, Deerfield,

Vermont Academy Vermont Academy (VA) is a private, co-educational, college preparatory, boarding and day school in Saxtons River, Vermont, serving students from ninth through twelfth grade, as well as postgraduates. Founded in 1876, the campus was listed on t ...

as well as others) throughout New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts. Appleton remained open from 1969 until 1974, when financial stresses caused its closure. The Concord Savings Bank had made a $250,000 loan to Appleton, which it defaulted on in 1976, resulting in foreclosure. In 2012, the site of the former academy was taken over by the Center for Information, Technology & Society (CITS), an educational nonprofit organization, to be the site of its K-12 education programs and to provide Boynton Middle School students with learning projects. The center's main mission is to provide internships and experiences under two programs oriented to Mascenic students: STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) related learning, centered on historical artifacts contrasted to modern techniques; and book discussion and writing/reading groups, with local librarians.The Center for Information, Technology & Society and The Program for Knowledge, Learning & Social Progress
at cybertrails.org, accessed 9 May 2019

Notable alumni

* Jesse Appleton (1772–1819), first president of Bowdoin College * Nathan Appleton (1779–1861), congressman, philanthropist * Samuel Bell (1770–1850), governor, U.S. senator *

Abijah Bigelow Abijah Bigelow (December 5, 1775 – April 5, 1860) was a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts. Born in Westminster in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, the son of Elisha and Sarah (Goodridge) Bigelow, Abijah Bigelow studied at Leicester ( ...

(1775–1860), congressman from Massachusetts * Henry Ames Blood (1836–1900), poet, playwright *

Jonas Chickering Jonas Chickering (April 5, 1798 – December 8, 1853) was a piano manufacturer in Boston, Massachusetts. Jonas Chickering was born in Mason Village, and raised in nearby New Ipswich, New Hampshire where his father Abner Chickering kept a farm a ...

(1798–1853), founder of Chickering Piano Company *

Augustus Addison Gould Augustus Addison Gould (April 23, 1805 – September 15, 1866) was an American conchologist and malacologist. Biography Born in New Ipswich, New Hampshire, he was the son of music teacher Nathaniel Duren Gould (1781–1864) who was also noted ...

(1805–1866), Harvard professor, collaborator with Louis Agassiz *

John Taylor Jones John Taylor Jones (July 16, 1802 – September 13, 1851) was an American missionary, and one of the earliest Protestant missionary to Siam (now Thailand) with his wife, Eliza Grew Jones. He is credited with introducing to Siam the modern worl ...

(1802–1851), early Christian missionary to Thailand * Henry W. Merriam (1828–1900), industrialist * Amasa Norcross (1824–1898), congressman from Massachusetts * Robert Smith (1802–1867), congressman from Illinois * John J. Taylor (1808–1892), congressman *

James Wilson II James Wilson II (March 18, 1797 – May 29, 1881) was a U.S. Representative from New Hampshire, son of James Wilson (1766–1839). Life Born in Peterborough, New Hampshire, James Wilson II attended New Ipswich Academy and the academies at ...

(1797–1881), congressman *

Levi Woodbury Levi Woodbury (December 22, 1789September 4, 1851) was an American attorney, jurist, and Democratic politician from New Hampshire. During a four-decade career in public office, Woodbury served as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the U ...

(1789–1851), governor of New Hampshire

References

{{coord missing, New Hampshire Educational institutions established in 1789 Defunct schools in New Hampshire 1789 establishments in New Hampshire