Leicester Academy

The charter issued to the Academy bears the bold signature of John Hancock, Governor of Massachusetts; and Samuel Adams, President of the Senate.

Early trustees of the academy included Rufus Putnam (who was also one of its principal benefactors), Moses Gill, Levi Lincoln Sr., Joseph Allen, Seth Washburn, Samuel Baker, and several clergymen of the area.

The purpose of Leicester Academy was to promote piety and virtue; and for the education of youth in the English, Latin, Greek, and French languages, together with writing, arithmetic and the art of speaking.

Among them were Samuel Crafts, who was a Congressman and Governor of Vermont; Eli Whitney, the famous inventor; Navy Secretary David Henshaw, and others representing every walk of life.

At the fourth Constitutional Convention of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1917, an anti-aid amendment prohibited public funding of any privately owned school or college.