 |
||||||||||
|
First Academy
|
||||||||||
 |
||||||||||
|
A ceremony was held July 4, 1893 when the cornerstone was laid for the first Academy building. On October 31st a dedication ceremony was held. In a book published in 1992, author Art Lee writes: "The brick structure stood three stories high, with a prominent cupola at the top, thus a tall building that stood out mightily by its size and could be seen from a considerble distance. On the first floor were the living quarters for the principal and classrooms, then designated as recitation rooms. the second floor held and assembly room--used also for daily chapel services--along with more class rooms, a music room, and living quarters for female students. The male studens--and male faculty--lived on the third floor. the kitchen and boarding-club were in the basement. A hot-water furnace system provided the heat for the building, but initially there were no plumbine facilities. The original cost of the building itself, minus the $2,500 heating plant, was $20,000."
|
||||||||||
 |
On New Year's Eve, December 31, 1919, a fire of undetermined origin consumed the Academy. According to and article in the January 8, 1920 edition of the Waupaca County Post, "In less than an hour the building was a crumbled heap.Once again Art Lee writes: "Everything burned. Every single thing was destroyed. For the new president, for the board of directors, but especially for the faculty and students themselves, it was a tragedy of the first magnitude. How to keep a school running--with o books and no library--with no physical plant--and no chairs or desks--and all this in the middle of a winter appeared to be a task that was insurmountable. | |||||||||