The McCollom Building is a two-story building in the middle of the town of Mont Vernon, New Hampshire. It was built in 1853 as a private school and over the decades has housed two different private preparatory schools, a public school, and most recently town offices.
In 1848 the town voted to build a new schoolhouse for higher education and the "Appleton Academy" was opened in 1850 in a building across the street from the McCollom Building. [1]
The name of Appleton seems to have been given in the hope of getting financial support from the Appleton family, particularly William Appleton of Boston, whose mother had lived in Mont Vernon with her daughters until her death in 1842, and his cousin Samuel Appleton, a notable philanthropist. William Appleton eventually gave the school a library worth $700, equivalent to $25,637in 2023, while Samuel gave $500 towards the cost of the new building, the biggest single donation, equivalent to $18,312in 2023. In 1855, William gave another $100. [1]
By the school's third year, the number of students had risen to 101, leading to the need for a bigger and better building. What is now the McCollom Building was erected in 1853, forty feet by sixty, three stories, with an upstairs school hall. [1]
In 1858, a twelve-page Catalogue of Officers and Students of the Appleton Academy, Mont Vernon, N.H. was published. [2]
In 1860, soon after graduating from Dartmouth College, Cecil Bancroft (1839–1901) was appointed as Principal of the school, where he stayed until 1864, leaving to marry Frances A. Kittredge, one of his students. He went on to be appointed as Principal of Phillips Academy Andover in 1873. [3]
By 1871, attendance had fallen to only thirty-six. In that year, George W. McCollom (1814–1878) of New York City, a rich man born on a farm near Mont Vernon, gave the school $10,000 (equivalent to $254,333in 2023) in memory of his late wife, Mary Ann Stevens, a niece of William Appleton. The school was renamed the McCollom Institute. A colonnaded porch and porte-cochère were added to the building and by 1873, attendance was back up to eighty-six, with an average student age of eighteen. [1]
In April, 1879, the length of the Fall and Winter terms was fixed at thirteen weeks each, leaving the Spring term at twelve weeks, which made the school year two weeks longer. [4]
In 1892, with numbers falling again, one of the school's rooms was put into use as Mont Vernon's first public library. [1]
Through the 1890s there were several changes of teachers and schoolmasters as interest in "country academies" fell out of favor. There was no school from 1900 to 1901. By 1906, the number of students had fallen to eleven, partly reflecting a decline the population of rural New England towns like Mont Vernon as farms moved to the Midwest, and trustees decided to discontinue the school. [5]
The book History of Mont Vernon (1907), says
For some years the permanent population of the town had been diminishing, and the surrounding towns, also growing smaller, were sending their children to High schools in towns which were large enough to support them. The regular fitting schools had, by their superior advantages, drawn many of the class that formerly came to Mont Vernon, and McCollom Institute could no longer compete in the work. [5]
In 1906, Arthur Stearns, assistant headmaster of the Lakewood, N.J., school for boys, established a boarding school for both sexes in the building. Stearns School stopped accepting girls in 1910. It operated as a boarding prep school through 1937, eventually owning several town buildings as dormitories, a 9-hole golf course, and Stearns Pond, which was used for ice hockey. Enrollment peaked at 47 pupils, but according to the 1958 edition of the "History of Mont Vernon," it declined sharply after the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Without an endowment fund to make up for lost tuition, the history said, "continued operation became impossible and closure was enforced in September, 1937." [6]
The building was largely unused until 1947, when the trustees let the town use it for elementary school overflow from Central School, the last of what had once been five public school houses in town. In 1970 the Mont Vernon Village School was built and grades 4-6 move there. [7] In 1990 the remaining grades moved to the Village School and the McCollom Building was given to the town of Mont Vernon, at which time it adopted the current name. As of 2020 it holds the clerks office and police department.
Hillsborough County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. As of the 2020 census, the population was 422,937, almost one-third the population of the entire state. Its county seats are Manchester and Nashua, the state's two biggest cities. Hillsborough is northern New England's most populous county as well as its most densely populated.
Mont Vernon is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 2,584 at the 2020 census, up from 2,409 at the 2010 census.
Phillips Academy is a co-educational college-preparatory school for boarding and day students located in Andover, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. The academy enrolls approximately 1,150 students in grades 9 through 12, including postgraduate students. It is part of the Eight Schools Association and the Ten Schools Admissions Organization.
Phillips Exeter Academy is a coeducational university preparatory private school for boarding and day students in grades 9 through 12, including postgraduate students. Located in Exeter, New Hampshire and founded in 1781, it is the sixth-oldest boarding school in the United States.
Groton School is a private college-preparatory day and boarding school located in Groton, Massachusetts. It is affiliated with the Episcopalian tradition.
Lawrence Academy at Groton is a private, nonsectarian, co-educational college-preparatory boarding school located in Groton, Massachusetts. Founded in 1792 as Groton Academy and chartered in 1793 by Governor John Hancock, Lawrence is the tenth-oldest boarding school in the United States and the third-oldest in Massachusetts, following The Governor's Academy (1763) and Phillips Academy at Andover (1778).
Proctor Academy is a coeducational, independent preparatory boarding school for grades 9–12 located on 2,500 acres (10 km2) in Andover, New Hampshire. The school was established in 1848 by the town of Andover, with Dyer H. Sanborn as the principal. There are about 370 students.
The Governor's Academy is a co-educational, college-preparatory day and boarding school in Byfield, Massachusetts. Established in 1763 in memory of Massachusetts governor William Dummer, Governor's is the oldest boarding school in New England.
Saint Grottlesex refers to several American college-preparatory boarding schools in New England that historically educated the social and economic elite of the Northeastern United States. The schools are St. Mark's School, St. Paul's School, St. George's School, Groton School and Middlesex School.
Abbot Academy was an independent boarding preparatory school for women boarding and day care for students in grades 9–12 from 1828 to 1973. Located in Andover, Massachusetts, Abbot Academy was notable as one of the first incorporated secondary schools for educating young women in New England. It merged with Phillips Academy in 1973 and campus buildings along School Street continue to be used for the combined school. Some Abbot traditions continue at the combined private boarding school such as Parent's Weekend. Since the 40th anniversary in 2013 of the merger of the two schools, there has been renewed interest in Abbot's history and traditions.
Deerfield Academy is an independent college-preparatory boarding and day school in Deerfield, Massachusetts. Founded in 1797, it is one of the oldest secondary schools in the United States.
Choate Rosemary Hall is a private, co-educational, college-preparatory boarding school in Wallingford, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1890, it took its present name and began a co-educational system with the 1971 merger of The Choate School for boys and Rosemary Hall for girls. It is part of the Eight Schools Association and the Ten Schools Admissions Organization.
The Noyes Academy was a racially integrated school, which also admitted women, founded by New England abolitionists in 1835 in Canaan, New Hampshire, near Dartmouth College, whose then-abolitionist president, Nathan Lord, was "the only seated New England college president willing to admit black students to his college".
The Merrimack Valley is a bi-state region along the Merrimack River in the U.S. states of New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The Merrimack is one of the larger waterways in New England and has helped to define the livelihood and culture of those living along it for millennia.
Pembroke Academy is a public secondary school in Pembroke, New Hampshire.
Lamson Farm is a historic farm property on Lamson Road in Mont Vernon, New Hampshire. Founded in the 1770s and operated as a farm until 1975, it is one of the few surviving intact 19th-century farm properties in the community. Its land, over 300 acres (120 ha) in size, is now town-owned conservation and farmland. The property has trails open to the public, and an annual celebration of Lamson Farm Day is held here every September. The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.
Claude Moore Fuess was an American author, historian, educator, and the 10th Headmaster of Phillips Academy Andover from 1933 to 1948.
Cecil Franklin Patch Bancroft was an American educator and 8th Principal of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, from 1873 to 1901.
The McCollom Institute, in Mont Vernon, New Hampshire, until 1871 called the Appleton Academy, was a high school between 1850 and 1906, when it closed due to low numbers. It was owned and operated by the local trustees of a trust which continued for many years after the end of its school.