Lot 56,
Brookeville, Montgomery County, Maryland Constructed in 1810,
Chartered in 1815
Information:
Brookeville Academy. John
O. Brostrup, 1936. Historic American Buildings Survey. Library
of Congress.
Lot 56 on High Street in
Brookeville, Maryland was originally purchased from Brookeville founder
Richard
Thomas Jr. by Caleb
Bentley in 1804.1
Construction began on the lot in 1810, and the lot and building were
incorporated as the Brookeville Academy in 1815. The founding trustees
included Caleb Bentley, David
Newlin, Thomas
Moore, John H. Riggs, William
H. Dorsey, Ignatius Warters and Thomas Davis, who were
prominent residents of
Brookeville and the surrounding areas.2
The school initially served as a boarding school for boys,
with one or more of the surrounding houses serving as dormitories for
the
students.3
Initially, the school had enough capacity for sixty boys, although
girls were later admitted. The library in the school reportedly
contained over 600 volumes. The academy remained in Brookeville until
1869, when it moved to a larger building in nearby Merryville.4 Today, the
building
serves as a community center for various Brookeville-area
events.
