Thornton Academy Postscripts Alumni Magazine Fall 2010 | Page 4

Bicentennial

In the Beginning: All About Thornton’s Founding
Looking Back 200 Years
Less than 25 years after our
country began, six years after
the town of Saco shuffled off
the name Pepperellborough and
nine years prior to Maine’s break
from Massachusetts as an independent state, Saco Academy was
founded. That name too would be
short-lived, changing in 1822 to
Thornton Academy.
It is in January 1811 that
Thornton’s story officially begins,
when 37 Saco citizens (all men)
filed a petition with the Massachusetts legislature to establish
an Academy in Saco.
The Massachusetts Senate
responded favorably, and Gov.
Gerry signed the bill creating
Saco Academy on February 16.
Thus, in the deep of winter,
Thornton Academy continues to
celebrate its founding, with the
official kickoff to the Bicentennial
year Saturday, February 12.
The new school was also
granted one-half township of six
square miles near Moosehead
Lake—on the condition that trustees raise $3,000 in three years.
Organizing and Opening
On March 25, 1811, the newly
appointed trustees held their
first meeting, elected officers—
Col. Thomas Cutts president,
Cyrus King secretary, and Daniel
Cleaves treasurer—and formed
committees.
Trustees Cleaves, Jonathan
Tucker and Maj. John Spring became the first Development Committee and raised in just three
months $3,825 from 83 donors,
thus fulfilling the requirement
for receiving the half township.
The largest gift was $200.
To determine what a comparative gift would be today, the best
measure of wealth is the “relative share of GDP.” Today, you
would need to give a gift of over
$3,000,000 to be in the same
league.
The first Buildings & Grounds
Committee—composed of Thomas Thornton, William Moody and
James Gray—drew up building
plans and secured a building site.
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Clockwise beginning at upper right: Thornton Academy’s half township near
Moosehead Lake; our namesake, Thomas G. Thornton; and sketch of first
building, perhaps done from memory.

The plans called for a building 42
feet by 30 feet composed of one
12-foot-high story, plus a cellar
and two fireplaces. By May the
committee had secured a site in
what today is probably the vacant
lot near the Unitarian Church
behind Fairfield School.
On January 4, 1813, Saco
Academy was dedicated and Rev.
Asa Lyman, the first preceptor
(or headmaster), addressed the
crowd. Forty-nine boys and girls
ranging in age from 11 to 27 entered the doors, and were joined
one quarter later in April by
another 26. Students came from
Saco, Biddeford, Kennebunk,
Topsham, Wells, Porter, Berwick,
and Kittery, as well as Nantucket,
RI, and Dover, NH. Tuition was
$3 per quarter, plus boarding for
those not living nearby.
School remained in session all
year including summer. To counterbalance academics, the youth
performed hands-on activities.
The boys tended the fire and rang
the bell; the girls swept the floor.
Changing the Name
Despite the support of a core

group of Saco leaders, Saco
Academy struggled to make ends
meet. In July 1820, a committee
was appointed to sell the one-half
township near Moosehead. The
sale dragged on for years, and the
land was sold in parts between
1830 and 1854 for a total sum of
$971.10.
In the meantime, because
immediate funds were needed,
another committee was formed in
November 1821 to raise $1,500.
Almost immediately Thomas
Thornton, then U.S. marshal of
Maine, stepped forward with ten
shares of bank stock valued at
$1,000. Again using relative share
of GDP, that is a gift today of
almost twenty million dollars.
This was an immense sum
from one man, since 31 of the
town’s leaders, giving generously,
mustered only $643 among them.
In gratitude for Thornton’s generosity, the trustees petitioned the
legislature of the brand new state
of Maine to change the school’s
name in gratitude. And thus we
became Thornton Academy— ѡ