Woodstock Academy - 1800's by Robert J. Smith, Ph.D. Faculty Emeritus, Academy Historian

1801
Reverend Eliphalet Lyman
Led by the Reverend Eliphalet Lyman and Attorney John McClellan, members of the First Ecclesiastical Society respond to a 1799 act of the Connecticut legislature allowing entrepreneurs to establish “schools of a higher order” in their towns. The group solicits community support in constructing the first Woodstock Academy building on the north end of the town common.
John McClellan

1802

The Woodstock Academy opens in February. The charter introduced by John McClellan to the state legislature is granted in May. Woodstock is among the first six academies established in Connecticut.

1843

Following years of sporadic operation, Woodstock native Henry C. Bowen, now a wealthy New York City merchant, purchases and renovates the Woodstock Academy. Bowen also constructs a student boarding house next to the school. An Academy revival under First Ecclesiastical Society management, however, is short-lived.

1867

Henry C. Bowen organizes a new Academy corporation, establishes a small endowment, and reopens the school. Post-Civil War optimism contributes to the successful revival, and plans for a new and larger Academy begin.

1869

As act of the Connecticut legislature validates the 1802 Woodstock Academy charter and the authority of Bowen’s new Academy corporation.

1873

A new Woodstock Academy building, with residential space for a principal and boarding students, is constructed behind the first Academy on Woodstock Hill. Private subscriptions, to which patron Henry C. Bowen contributes sixty percent, fund the new structure. The original Academy is sold and removed to a new site. But the stock market crash of 1873 and the depression which follows abruptly halt the revival. The school endowment is virtually lost, and enrollment rapidly declines.

Academy Building 1873

1888

Principal Ely Ransom Hall begins a twenty-six year tenure which brings administrative stability to the Academy. Hall founds the Woodstock Library Association, which combines the school and public collections and establishes alumni and athletic associations.

Woodstock Academy - 1900's by Robert J. Smith, Ph.D. Faculty Emeritus, Academy Historian

1907

Elmwood Hall, the Academy boarding house, is destroyed by fire.

1870-Elmwood Hall

1913

Following seven years of community debate, the Woodstock Academy is designated as the high school for the Town of Woodstock. A community board of management and control is created to oversee the new arrangement. Academy trustees begin a campaign to increase the school endowment and reduce tuition.

1921

Connecticut Commissioner of Education A.B. Meredith rules that the Town of Woodstock contracts with an independent Academy for secondary education services. The ruling returns complete management of the school and its finances to the Academy trustees.

1923

The Howard Webster Bracken Memorial Library is given to the Academy to house both the school and public collections of the Woodstock Library Association.

1928

The Ely Ransom Hall memorial Gymnasium is constructed through private subscriptions.

Class of 1928

1929

Over half of the Academy endowment is lost in the stock market crash. With its buildings solvent and able to house the school population, the Academy continues with austere depression era budgets.

1932

The Town of Eastford designates the Woodstock Academy as its high school.

1933

An act of the Connecticut legislature revises the Academy charter, eliminating stockholders and creating an alumni-based corporation to govern the school.

1939

The construction of an Agriculture Building, the first of its kind in a Connecticut secondary school, completes the first twentieth-century Academy expansion.

1945

Agencies of the Town of Woodstock commence planning to address a critical need for secondary and elementary education facilities in the post-World War II era.

1956

Years of post-war debate over secondary education in Woodstock culminate with an initiative by Academy trustees for a second campus expansion.

1957

On adjacent property offered for purchase to the Academy by the Holt family, the Holt Science Building is constructed. The Academy expends over half of the school endowment on the project.

1960

Dr. David H. Bates, academy trustee and school physician, leads advocates for the continued academy “quasi-public”.

1965

The Henry C. Bowen Building is constructed through private subscription.

1965

The Henry C. Bowen Building is constructed through private subscription.

1969

“An Act Concerning School Construction Grants for Schools Serving as Public Secondary Schools” is passed by the Connecticut legislature, allowing cooperative ventures between such schools and their parent communities to develop and fund new facilities.

1971

A second twentieth-century campus expansion concludes with the construction of Alumni Field House.

1982

Elizabeth Hyde becomes the first woman to be elected president of the Woodstock Academy Board of Trustees. Mrs. Hyde leads a cooperative effort of Connecticut legislators and department of education officials to make the Academy eligible for state construction grants, based upon the Academy’s compliance with all statutes regarding public secondary education.

1986

“An Act Concerning School Construction Grants for Woodstock Academy” is passed by the Connecticut legislature, making the Woodstock Academy eligible for state grants for new construction. The law also provides a seat for a publicly elected board of education representative from each sending community on the executive committee of the Board of Trustees. The 1873 Academy Building is placed on the register of national historic places.

1987

The Towns of Pomfret and Brooklyn designate Woodstock Academy as their high schools. The Towns of Woodstock and Eastford elect to bond a 14.5 million dollar Woodstock Academy building program 73% of which will be reimbursed by the state. Elizabeth Hyde chairs the building committee which oversees the project.

Woodstock Academy - 2000's by Robert J. Smith, Ph.D. Faculty Emeritus, Academy Historian

2000

Bicentennial Hall is constructed on the Academy campus with new classrooms to accommodate a growing student population.

2001

Woodstock Academy, one of the oldest secondary schools in the United States, celebrates its bicentennial. Renovations to the Academy Building third floor provided four additional classrooms.

2002

The student-run Radio and TV Stations were completed.

2003

The graphics lab was relocated to the Bicentennial Building and two classrooms were renovated in the Bracken Memorial Library and Media Center.

2005

Two classrooms were renovated in the lower level of the Bracken Memorial Library and Media Center.

2007

The renovation of the Bracken Memorial Library was completed.

2009

The renovation of the Bracken Alumni Center was completed housing the Headmaster’s Office, the Office of Development and Alumni Relations, the Office of Business Operations and a Board of Trustee Conference Room.