Elgin Academy emphasizes service marking 180th anniversary of charter

Once isolated as a fledgling frontier town with log cabins, horse-drawn carriages and only a few thousand settlers, Elgin saw a path to growth that would become familiar in the suburbs nearly two centuries later - through education.

The commitment to education among Elgin's founders gave birth to one of the town's first schoolhouses - Elgin Academy, which this Friday will celebrate a milestone recognizing the school's earliest objectives of openness and community service. Students and employees will conduct a schoolwide day of service to mark the 180th anniversary of state acceptance of the school's charter on Feb. 22, 1839.

"We're spending this month in various ways talking about the history of the school," said Seth Hanford, head of school. "It is a way for us to think about who we are and our relationship with everything around us. As we think about the future ... the school's focus is thinking about ways to marry the importance of those relationships with all of the new things we know about how people learn."

As part of Friday's Founder's Day celebration, high school students will volunteer at Feed My Starving Children in Aurora. and middle school students will undertake service projects for the Salvation Army, Ronald McDonald House, Operation Gratitude and Color a Smile.

Elementary students will be making tie-fleece blankets and packaging items to donate to PADS of Elgin. They also will be making cards to donate to various organizations, while third- and fourth-graders will be singing at a local senior center.

Officials also are urging alumni to commit to serving that day wherever they are to honor their time at the school.

"Service is a huge part of what we do here at Elgin Academy," spokeswoman Lynn Martin said. "While it is not a school requirement, it is something our students have always had a heart for, and therefore, it's appropriate to be included in our recognition of our heritage."

In its earliest days, Elgin had a few schooling options with a girls seminary, a boys school and the town's first public school, which started in 1844. The academy would open its doors in 1856 to students who included city and country folk mostly from wealthy families that could afford paying for a classical education.

"Elgin Academy was unique among private schools of its time for welcoming male and female students of all religious denominations," Elgin History Museum Director Elizabeth Marston said.

Today, the academy educates 284 students from throughout the Fox Valley in preschool through 12th grade at its six-acre campus at 350 Park St. off Dundee Avenue. Maintaining small class sizes and emphasizing strong relationships between students and faculty has been key to the school's success, Hanford said.

The school largely is funded through tuition - currently ranging between $12,000 and $25,000 a year, depending on a student's age and grade level - and roughly $500,000 in annual donations from former alumni, community members and corporate entities, supporting an annual operating budget of roughly $7 million.

Elgin Academy remains independently managed by an appointed board and never has been affiliated with any religious order or group.

The charter that led to the school, however, did have religious roots.

Free Will Baptists first applied to open the academy, intending to found Northern Illinois College. They laid the foundation at one of the highest points in town, but the project stalled and the land sat vacant until 1854, when Joseph Tefft organized its purchase for the creation of Elgin Academy as an independent high school, Marston said.

The school opened on Dec. 1, 1856, at a time when education was starting to be standardized nationwide.

Over the years, Elgin Academy adopted many iterations, including serving different grade levels, operating as a residential boarding program until the 1960s and enrolling international students.

It did have one break in operations - remaining dormant from 1861 to 1865 during the Civil War, when 153 students, teachers, administrators and trustees went off to fight alongside Union troops. Of those, 19 were killed or later died of war wounds.

The academy's humble beginning was in "Old Main," a three-story, blond-brick building designed in a Greek revival style at 360 Park St., near historic downtown Elgin. It now is owned by the city and houses the Elgin History Museum.

Seven buildings compose the campus. An additional 11 acres of athletic fields and tennis courts lie about a mile east of the campus off Franklin Boulevard, west of Lords Park.

"We've been in the same place the whole time," said Hanford of the Elgin campus.

Over the years, there was talk of moving the campus to Barrington, but Elgin held a special place for school leaders.

"It's decidedly been part of who we are," Hanford said. "We were founded by the founders of Elgin, who knew that the way to build a city is to have top-rated education. That thread has been consistent for us our entire existence. There is a long history of education in this town and we feel like we are a big part of that."

Elgin Academy facts

• Feb. 22, 1839 — The Free Will Baptists charter a school approved by the Illinois legislature.

• 1856 — Elgin Academy opens under headmaster Robert Blenkiron. “Old Main” was the first building on campus. Designed in a Greek revival style, it was built with local Dundee brick by Edwin Reeves and Joshua Wilbur.

• 1861-1865 — School remained dormant during the Civil War as 153 students, teachers, administrators and trustees went off to fight alongside Union troops. Of those, 19 people were killed or died of war wounds.

• 1872 — First graduating class with only one graduate, Laura Davidson, who later taught at the school and served as a trustee.

• Notable graduate — Jimmy John Liautaud, Class of 1982, founder of Jimmy John’s sandwich shop chain.