Former names |
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| Active |
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| Founder | Samuel Simon Schmucker |
| Address | 66–68 West High Street , Gettysburg , PA , 17325 , US 39°49′42″N77°13′59″W / 39.828307°N 77.232982°W |
| Campus | Gettysburg College |
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Gettysburg Academy (also known as the Classical Preparatory School and the Gettysburg Gymnasium) [1] was an antebellum boys' boarding school for which the vernacular architecture schoolhouse (now "Reuning Hall") was the "first home" of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg and Gettysburg College. [2] [3]
The March 19, 1810 incorporation by the commonwealth appropriated $2,000, [4] [5] and the academy opened in 1814 for the school year with Samuel Ramsay as the first teacher. [6]
By 1822 the boarding school had three dormitories, libraries, and a gymnasium and beginning in 1826, the academy trustees allowed the Lutheran seminary to use the facility — D. Jacobs established a preparatory school in June 1827 (his brother was a mathematics professor). [7] [8]
The facility was purchased at Sheriff's sale in 1829 by Samuel Simon Schmucker and designated the "Gettysburg Gymnasium". [5] [9] The 1829 headmaster was Dr. Charles H. Huber, and 2 sons of Mexico's president-elect attended. [10] The last graduation was in 1835. [11]
When the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg began, the Reuning House was being used by Rebecca Eyster's Young Ladies Seminary, [7] which acted as an American Civil War hospital for casualties during the battle. Eyster's "School Halls" were advertised for rent in 1877, [12] the house was used as World War I officers' quarters, and Reuning House is now a private residence protected by a 1972 borough ordinance extending the historical district to include the building. [13]