Gorham Academy

Stephen Longfellow presented a petition in favor of an academy in Gorham to the Massachusetts State Legislature.

Governor Caleb Strong approved an act incorporating the Academy on March 5, 1803.

[1] In September 1806, work on the Federal style Academy Building, designed by Samuel Elder, was completed.

The academy was incorporated into the Gorham Normal School in the late 1870s,[2] and the Academy Building is now on the campus of the University of Southern Maine, the successor institution of the Gorham Normal School.

In 1973, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places[3] for its fine Federal period architecture and its importance in local education.