The East Greenwich Academy (originally known as Kent Academy) was a private Methodist

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

East Greenwich, Rhode Island East Greenwich is a town and the county seat of Kent County, Rhode Island. The population was 14,312 at the 2020 census. East Greenwich is the wealthiest municipality within the state of Rhode Island. It is part of the Providence metropolitan st ...

, USA that was in existence from 1802 until 1943.

History

The school was founded in 1802 by eight prominent men from East Greenwich and Warwick, who served as stockholders of the school. The campus was built on five acres of farmland belonging to Ethan Clark, which overlooked Narragansett Bay. In 1841 the Providence Conference Seminary of the Methodist Episcopal Church took over the school and by the mid-nineteenth century nearly three fourths of all Rhode Island teachers were alumni of the academy. After dwindling enrollment during the Great Depression and World War II, the academy closed in 1943. The town of East Greenwich purchased the buildings and used them as a school for several years until many of them were demolished in the 1960s. Around the same time, St. Luke's Episcopal Church purchased and demolished two of the other buildings. The headmaster's house with its ornate cupola still survives at 112 Peirce Street. The school's gymnasium, Swift Gymnasium, also survives and is used for local events and is the site of the "Academy Players," a theater group named after the old academy.

Prominent alumni and faculty

* Nelson W. Aldrich, Republican U.S. Senator 1881-1911 *

William Daniel Brayton William Daniel Brayton (November 6, 1815 – June 30, 1887) was a U.S. Representative from Rhode Island. Born in Warwick, Rhode Island, Brayton attended Kent Academy in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. Brayton spent two years in Brown University, ...

, Republican U.S. Representative 1847-1861 *

Marietta Stanley Case Marietta Stanley Case (, Stanley; August 22, 1845 – 21 July 1900) was a 19th-century American poet and temperance advocate. Her very best poems were entitled, "The Waning Century" and "Amorpatioe", the latter being written for the Daughters of t ...

(1845-1900), poet and temperance advocate *

Mary H. Gray Clarke Mary Hannah Gray Clarke (, Gray; pen name Nina Gray Clarke; March 28, 1835 - May 30 or 31, 1892) was an American author, correspondent, and poet from Rhode Island. She wrote extensively for magazines and for the public press, and was also the au ...

(born 1835), correspondent * Isaac T. Goodnow, former professor of Natural Sciences at the Providence Conference Seminary (aka, East Greenwich Academy) 1848-1854, co-founded the town of Manhattan, Kansas and the school that became known as Kansas State University. *

Albert C. Greene Albert Collins Greene (April 15, 1792January 8, 1863) was an American lawyer and politician from Rhode Island. He served as a United States senator and Attorney General of Rhode Island. Early life Greene was born in East Greenwich, Rhode Isl ...

, U.S. Senator from RI (1845–1851) *

George Washington Greene George Washington Greene (April 8, 1811 – February 2, 1883) was an American historian. He was also the grandson of Major-General Nathanael Greene, a hero of the American Revolutionary War. Biography Greene was born in East Greenwich, Rho ...

, professor at Brown University, historian * Charles Phelps, first Connecticut attorney general (1899–1903) *

Harry A. Richardson Harry Alden Richardson (January 1, 1853 – June 16, 1928) was an American businessman and politician from Dover, in Kent County, Delaware. He was a member of the Republican Party, and was U.S. Senator from Delaware. Early life and family Richar ...

, U.S. Senator from Delaware (1907–1913) *

Raymond S. Thatcher Raymond S. Thatcher (January 10, 1903 – October 5, 1988) was an American politician and pharmacist who served a total of six terms as Connecticut State Comptroller between 1946 and 1966. A Democrat from East Hampton, Thatcher also served in t ...

(1903–1988), Connecticut State Comptroller

References

External links

Historical informationHistory of the town of East Greenwich and adjacent territory: from 1677 to 1877
(J. A. & R. A. Reid, 1877) pg. 202-207
Academy Players website
{{authority control 1943 disestablishments in Rhode Island Protestant educational institutions Defunct schools in Rhode Island Seminaries and theological colleges in Rhode Island Educational institutions established in 1802 Buildings and structures in East Greenwich, Rhode Island Schools in Kent County, Rhode Island Educational institutions disestablished in 1943 1802 establishments in Rhode Island