Fairfield Academy was organized in 1802 when the community
was an active local manufacturing center. The Board of Regents
granted the academy a charter in 1803. A separate medical department
became the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the Western
District of New York (better known as Fairfield Medical College).
It was chartered in 1812 and was the second medical college in
New York, and the sixth to be founded in the nation. Among its
distinguished alumni were Asa Gray (1810 - 1888), internationally
famous botanist, and Marcus Whitman (1802 - 1847), explorer, colonizer
and physician-missionary in Oregon. Teachers and graduates from
Fairfield helped establish medical colleges elsewhere. Fairfield
could not compete with these new colleges, and, in spite of its
influence, held its last classes in 1840,
Fairfield Academy flourished before the Civil War as a
"classical academy and female collegiate institute." It trained
teachers and prepared students for college. On the serene
hillside campus were laboratories, classrooms, dormitories and
the old chapel. By the end of the 19th century, as a result
of new transportation routes and of more and better local schools,
the academy lost its former position of prominence. it finally
closed in 1902.
Comments 0 comments