The Story of Wesleyan Academy’s New Beginning in Wilbraham

In the early decades of the nineteenth century, the Methodist Church had only a small footprint in education. Its first major experiment, Cokesbury College in Maryland, was built with great hope but met with repeated tragedy, twice destroyed by fire. After its loss, little more was attempted until 1818, when Methodist leaders established Wesleyan Academy in Newmarket, New Hampshire.

The school struggled almost from the start. Enrollment remained limited, finances were unsteady, and after several years of disappointing results, the trustees faced the truth. On December 30, 1823, they voted to suspend operations entirely, concluding that the academy had “not met with that encouragement which we were induced to expect.”

Rather than give up on Methodist education, however, the trustees began searching for a fresh start. Towns across New England were invited to make proposals, and among the most enthusiastic was the small agricultural community of Wilbraham, Massachusetts. Its citizens pledged more than $2,000, an impressive sum for the period, and offered land for a permanent site. Their local support, combined with the town’s healthy climate and central location, convinced the academy’s leaders that Wilbraham was the right choice.

Only a month after the school closed in Newmarket, the Massachusetts Legislature approved a new act of incorporation on February 7, 1824. From that moment, the Wesleyan Academy of Wilbraham was legally and historically a continuation of the Newmarket institution, carrying forward its charter and its Methodist identity. It would also soon claim a new distinction: the oldest surviving Methodist educational institution in America.

The land for the campus, known as the “Academy Lot,” was donated by William Rice of Springfield, formerly of Wilbraham. With contributions gathered across the Methodist conferences, the first Academy building quickly rose on the property. At the same time, a sixty-acre portion of the old Warriner homestead was purchased to serve as the boarding house. Originally built by William Rice as a hotel, the large house had become a lively gathering place for local parties, military musters, and social events, sometimes rowdy ones. One story tells of revelers riding horses straight through the front hall and out the back door after excessive drinking.

Old Academy Hall, built in 1824, was the original building at what would eventually become the Wilbraham & Monson Academy. Joe Roberts

For the Academy, acquiring this property solved two problems at once: it removed an obvious temptation for students, and it provided a ready-made site for boarding in a convenient location.

Wesleyan Academy opened its doors in Wilbraham on November 8, 1825. Only eight students arrived on the first day, but by the end of the term, the number had grown to thirty-five. From that modest beginning, the school’s reputation steadily increased.

In its early years, the Academy hoped to assist poorer students by incorporating manual labor into its educational model. A mechanic shop was built, and plans for agricultural instruction were begun. The idea proved impractical, but the facilities did not go to waste; the shop was expanded into a laboratory with recitation rooms, a museum, and a cabinet for natural science.

Meanwhile, accommodations for the principal evolved as well. Dr. Wilbur Fisk, the Academy’s first principal, initially lived a mile down Main Street on what later became the Eaton property. In 1827–28, a proper principal’s residence was constructed on campus. It served for nearly three decades until 1856, when it was moved westward and converted to student housing, and a new residence was erected.

As the school prospered, new buildings followed. Fisk Hall was completed in 1851, and Binney Hall replaced the old laboratory in 1854. Fire, however, proved a recurring threat. In January 1856, the boarding house burned to the ground. A brick replacement was finished the next year, only to be destroyed by fire again. After nearly two years’ delay, a new building opened for the fall term of 1861. It was named Rich Hall in honor of one of its principal benefactors and still stands today as a central symbol of the school’s resilience.

Fisk Hall was completed in 1851, and Binney Hall replaced the old laboratory in 1854. These two buildings can be seen while the Old Academy is obscured by trees. Joe Roberts

Rich Hall. Joe Roberts

The campus continued to grow with the needs of the era. In 1896, the Smith Memorial Gymnasium was built at a cost of roughly $45,000, a generous gift from Horace Smith and his estate. Then, in 1911, Wesleyan Academy ended its long period as a co-educational institution and reopened in 1912 as a boys’ school after significant renovations to Rich Hall and improvements across the grounds. Gaylord W. Douglas became its headmaster during this new chapter.

An interesting sidebar to the Academy’s early history involves its exact location. In the 1893 History of Wilbraham Academy, it was recalled that the committee originally favored the Calvin Brewer farm near the village store. Sixty-five acres there, priced at $3,500, seemed an excellent choice. The committee repeatedly revisited the site, but hesitated at the last moment and began considering the Merrick farm to the south. They even drafted papers for the Brewer purchase, placing them in escrow until the trustees could decide.

In the end, neither the Merrick nor Brewer properties were secured, the Brewer agreement ultimately fell through, and the disappointed owner sought damages, though arbitrators ruled in favor of the trustees. The Merrick farm, about a quarter mile south of the present campus, was owned by the Merrick family for more than 150 years; it later belonged to M. C. Wade. The Brewer farm, meanwhile, included the land now occupied by the Methodist parsonage, the author’s own home, and the store and residence of F. A. Gurney. It stretched from Springfield Street northward toward the Mountain Road, and from Main Street east to the Middle Road and west toward Pole Bridge Brook.

Though born in New Hampshire, Wesleyan Academy found its true home in Wilbraham. The community’s support, the town’s peaceful setting, and the Academy’s determination to succeed transformed a struggling institution into a thriving and lasting one. From the “Old Academy” of 1825 to the evolving campus of the twentieth century, the school became a pillar of both Methodist education and Wilbraham history, its story inseparable from the town that welcomed it.