The Washington Academy, of Florida, had its inception in a meeting of the inhabitants of that village held on February 14th, 1809. The meeting was enthusiastic and decided to erect a school building and establish a school "for the instruction of the young."
A two-story brick building was erected, but it was not conducted as a private academy long. When, in response to the law of 1812, the towns were divided into school districts, in 1813, the building became the school house of District No. 15, of the town of Warwick.
Samuel S. Seward was one of the first movers for the establishment of this school and was a member of its first board of trustees. His son, William H. Seward, afterward governor of the State of New York, United States Senator and Secretary of State under President Lincoln, was one of its early pupils.
Mr. Seward was never satisfied with the fate of the Washington Academy and later gave a site and erected a building for a private school which was known as the S. S. Seward Institute.
He left $20,000 in his will for a permanent endowment of this school. For nearly half a century it was maintained as a high class boarding school. The endowment and the active interest of the Seward family kept it in operation long after most of the schools of its kind had been closed by the competition of the public school. But in 1891, it was turned over to the board of education of the village of Florida and it has, since that time, been the academic department of the Florida public schools.
The Wallkill Academy, Middletown, like a number of other places along the line of the Erie Railroad, owes its initial development to that road. In 1840 it was a small village. The people were alive to the interests of their children, however, and in 1841, they organized a company with 115 stockholders, for the purpose of establishing an academy to provide the children of the village with better opportunities for education than could be had in the district school. The result of this movement was the building of a school house and the establishment of the Wallkill Academy.
The Reverend Phineas Robinson was the first teacher, and the school took high rank as a classical or grammar school from the first.
He was succeeded by Patrick McGregor, who was principal for five years. Henry Freeman was in charge for a like period, and the Reverend P. Teller Babbitt was in charge for a year and half. Then D. Kerr Bull became principal and continued in charge of the academy until it became a part of the public school system of the village of Middletown, at its organization under special act of the legislature in 1867.
The Chester Academy was chartered by the regents of the university on February 27th, 1844. The first principal was William Bross, who was assisted by his brother, Stephen D. Bross, mentioned above as one of the principals of Farmers' Hall Academy at Goshen.
William Bross prepared for college at Milford, Pa., and graduated from Williams College in 1838. He taught in several places before going to Chester, and, in 1848, he went to Chicago and engaged in newspaper work. For a number of years, he was president of the Chicago Tribune Company and he was lieutenant-governor of the State of Illinois from 1865 to 1869.