Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

The Brookeville Academy

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. 

Kyle Bacon, DAR Research Fellow, 2012

Notes:

  1. MONTGOMERY COUNTY COURT (Land Records) February 14, 1804, Liber L, p. 256, Deed, Richard Thomas Jr. to Caleb Bentley, Lots 47 & 56 in Brookeville [MSA CE 148-12].
  2. MONTGOMERY COUNTY COURT (Land Records) December 31, 1811, Liber P, p. 416, Deed, Brookeville Academy Trustees to Joseph E. Bentley, contract for Brookeville Academy [MSA CE 148-16]; Laws of 1814, Chapt. 12, Sect. 1. Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 633, p. 10.
  3. Trustees of the Brookeville Academy. "Petition of the trustees of the Brookeville Academy" (Annapolis: Wm. Thompson of R., Printer, 1868), p. 1. Accessed at archive.org.
  4. Town of Brookeville, Maryland, "Brookeville Academy," http://townofbrookevillemd.org/about/brookeville-academy-2/.




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