Thompson Academy - Islander Yearbook (Boston, MA)

Page 9 text:

A 962-63 FEASIBILITY STUDY 2

Page 8 text:

SCHOCL HISTCRY Thompson Academy is the fifth oldest independent school for boys in New England. The academy was founded in 1814 as the Boston Asylum for indigent Boys, principally to afford protection and support to the sons of local families that had suffered from conditions brought about by the War of 1812, and were therefore unable to supply proper guidance or support to their pre-or early adolescent sons. A number of philanthropic Bostonians decided early in 1813 to establish a home school for such boys to provide them with food, shelter, education and direction. Descendants of many of the orginal funding families remain active members of the Thompson Academy Board of Trustees. In 1832, a second, similarly oriented school was independently incorporated as the Boston Farm School, and Thompson's Island Boston Harbor was purchased from the city of Dorchester for its setting. Because the objectives of the Boston Farm School were much alike, and because the living facilities of the Asylum were becoming increasingly crowded in its single brick building in Boston's West End, a joint petition was presented to the General Court of Massachusetts for an act uniting the two schools into one, the Boston Asylum and Farm School for indigent Boys. The Assets of the former Asylum School were liquidated, and thus, a solid financial base upon which the new school would establish its future growth was provided. The new school continued to serve needy boys of good character and to provide a year-round home, academic instruction, and a thorough appreciation of manual and industrial arts and the principals of agriculture. During the 19th century the school enlarged its campus, its combined academic!agriculturallvocational program and its student body and staff. In 1907, the school name was changed to the Farm and Trades School, however, the school's orientation and program remained unchanged. One of the most distinctive extracurricular activities of the early Farm and Trades School had its inception in 1857. According to school historian Raymond W. Stanley, some 12 boys were casulally amusing themselves one afternoon creating musical sounds through combs covered with tissue paper. They were soon joined by three boys with violins, and this group of 15 began to schedule informal meetings on a regular basis. In THE FOUR THOMPSONS, Stanley writes: A bass violin, saxhorn, cornopean, and drum were added to form the nucleus of what became, the same year, the first school band in America. The Greek philosopher Plato suggested in the REPUBLIC that musical instruction for young people would inpart to them an important sense of rhythm and harmony to broaden and to supplement a classical education. lt was the boys of the early Farm and Trades School, however, that were to finally implement this platonic concept. In 1956, The Farm and Trades School on Thompson's Island was renamed Thompson Academy, a titular change which both formalized and reflected a process of evolution that the school had been undergoing for some fifty years. The Farm and Trades School, as it name implied, has provided a practical training program which according to a 1947 school brochure, developed: ....... in each boy considerable skill in several of the departments of practical training with intensive training in one or two departments. These practical departments included printing, sloyd, carpentry, heating engineering, painting, glazing, electrical repairs, plumbing and steam repairs, cement work, floor care, building maintenance, farming, lawn care, shrubbery, tree pruning, shoe repair, laundry operation, clothing care, baking, vegetable canning, butchering, meat cutting, poultry dressing, office and messenger work. Additionally, each student was required to complete a full curriculum of academic instruction. Typical school days included four hours of class work, four hours of work training, and four hours of play and recreation. Although demanding, the success of that vigorous program is yet addested to by hundreds of enthusiastic alumni. By 1955, however, the Trustees of the School had determined that a disproportionately large number of then recent graduates had left the farm and shops on Thompson Island only to find that their elective but somewhat obsolite skills were not so easily marketable as they has been in an earlier era. At that time, the Board of Trustees elected to change the name of the School to Thompson Academy, to extend the program to include the full four years of high school, to both modify and intensify the academic curriculum, and insofar as was possible to continue to introduce each boy to a variety of practical, manual skills. The formula has been tremendously successful. The farm program ended in 1963 as a result of a disastrous fire which destroyed the main barn, much of the industrial arts courses-glazing, printing, vegetable canning, poultry dressing, ect. were also terminated because of lack of training facilities and diminishing student interest. Yet, even as the academic curriculm became more and more geared to college preparation, Thompson Academy has continued to emphasize the importance of well-roundedness and manual skill development. Again in 1971 fire struck the island. This time it was the Main building that was completely destroyed. To help put the school back on its feet a Planning Committee was formed to look into new education enviroments that could be implemented on the island.

Page 10 text:

THQMPSCN FRIENDS AND FAMILIES This June marks the end of an era. Thompson Academy will close its doors as a residential boarding school to begin a bold new educational venture in the fall. For those of us who have been associated with the old school this is a time to pause and reflect on the history and traditions of the past one hundred sixty one years. We shall miss the old school and all that it stood forg but times change and so must Thompson Academy. We shall miss the old school and all its good works, and we wish for those who follow us great success and continuing good fortune. John D. Pinto Headmaster Thompson Academy Amelia Pinto We yearl Patrick Pinto Q2 yearsl Sarah Pinto Q5 yearsl 1 Paula Pinto Q7 yearsl John D. Pinto 48 yearslg Columbia, B.A., Boston University, University of Rhode Island, and Honeywell Computer Institute. HEADMASTER