Cheshire Academy - Rolling Stone Yearbook (Cheshire, CT)

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'N -J HESHIRE ACADEMY -a conducted tour largest of the dormitories, is named for him, and here is an old photograph showing the uniformed cadets during close order drill on the very spot where we are now standing. The effects of the Civil War must have been felt very deeply. 'Indeed they were. And although Cheshire has long ceased to be a military academy some of them survive, for example in the names of the four clubs. The Welles Club was named for Gideon Welles, who served so ably as Secretary of the Navy in Lincoln's cabinetg the Foote Club for Admiral Foote, and the Wheeler Club for Confederate General Wheeler. Governor Hurley Hall And the fourth. For J. P. Morgan, the famous financier, also an alumnus. He is the man who is largely responsible for the Cheshire crest. Is that the emblem which we see on the breast pockets of the boys' jackets ? It is indeed, The crest is based on that of Cheshire in England, for which this town was named by settlers who had originally come from there. And that crest incorporates some of the elements of the Prince of Wales, especially the ostrich feathers and the motto Ich Dien-I Serve. There is an interesting legend about this. CUnfortunately historians assure us it is no more than a legend.j It tells us that in the Battle of Crecy in the Hundred Years' War, john, King of Bohemia, though he was old and blind, de- manded that he be brought into the ranks of battle to strike at least one blow. After the battle his plumes were taken from his dead body by Edward, the Black Prince, who adopted them as his own and handed them down to the Princes of Wales who followed him. 'I Serve' is an impressive motto for a school. Can you live up to it? Probably not always. But it is never far from the mind of our headmaster, Mr. Sheriff, who for thirty- seven years has truly served the school. He became head after a period of many changes, during which the name was changed to the Cheshire School, then the Roxbury Academy, then the Cheshire Academy with the original charter restored by act of the Con- necticut legislature. Thousands of boys have known his personal guidance and friendship. He keeps in touch by correspondence with former students in near-by towns and half way around the World. Under his leadership the school has grown to one'of- over five hundred boys. Yet he has insisted on and main- tained the principle of small classes and close relation- ship between students and masters. Thus the teach- ing staff has sixty members. I wonder if those men who subscribed the original money could have dreamed to what achievement their gift would lead . .

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We can imagine a group of teachers and students from foreign lands arriving in the town of Cheshire to visit and study Cheshire Academy as an outstand- ing but representative American preparatory school. First of all they would no doubt want to walk around the campus, see the physical basis, and hear the Academy's background and history. Here is the heart and center of Cheshire Academy - Bowden Hall. The administrative offices, in- cluding the gracious study'of the headmaster, are on the first floor, a number of boys are housed up- stairs. New students and their parents usually make their first acquaintance with Cheshire here in the oldest building on the campusf, The men in those days clearly built for the fu- ture. In every sense. The thirty men who raised the S702 to begin the Academy-then the Episcopal Academy of Connecticut-must have felt something of the passion for education which so moved Thomas jefferson, the conviction that a government of the people must depend on an educated citizenry. Thomas jefferson had not yet been elected pres- ident then. No, George Washington was president when the Academy was founded. jefferson had already made a great impact on our country's history, however. I don't know whether any of the Cheshire subscribers -most of them farmers-were followers of his or not, but intense recognition that for growth and progress America must have education must have permeated men's thoughts all over the new nation. Were they thinking of education or of religion? Both, no doubt. The position of the lovely Con- gregational church at the apex of the green symbolizes the place of religion in their lives. And the other Cheshire churches hold important places. Across the highway you see St. Peter's Episcopal Church, with which the history of the Academy is closely associatedg HISTORY OF though it is now non-sectarian. The transepts of St. Peter's were built to seat the growing student body. How did Bowden Hall get its name? From the first headmaster to serve in it, Dr. john Bowden. But even before there was a building, in 1794, the Reverend Mr. Bronson had opened classes. The building at the end of the portico, now actually one with Bowden Hall, was named Bronson Hall. It contains the library, the bursar's office, and a chapel which we understand to be the oldest private school chapel in the country. Do all boys attend ? Bowden Hall and Bronson Hall V Unless by their parents' wish they attend another service. But the constitution forbade compuslory church attendance except as parents should direct even in its early days, when the Academy was under the guidance of the Episcopal Church. During those days, following the resignation in 1802 of Dr. Bow- den, the Episcopal rectors served also as heads of the Academy up to the time of the Civil War, when Dr. Sanford J. Horton became the head and reorganized the school as a military academy. Horton Hall, the

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Seated, left to right: Russell Wickett, Ronald Kramer, Robert Kalik, George johnson, Den- nis Houston, Roger Lancaster, Peter Foley, Donald Nierling, Elliot Booth, Stanley Rosen- stein. Standing: Henry Cashen, Robert Browning, Editor, Edward Sturm. ROLLING STONE STAFF Editor-Robert Browning Aft Editory-juan Valencia, Mark Schroeder Asriffani Eciitorr-Russell Wickett, Robert Kalik, George Johnson, Donald Nierling General Staff-Ronald Kramer, Dennis Houston, Peter Foley, Elliott Booth, Edward Sturm. Bzzfiness Staff-Henry Cashen, Roger Lancaster, Stanley Rosenstein Staff Plzologmplaerf-Howard Birch, Alan Ralston Faculty Adffirom-john Corpaci, james Mitchell