Hillsborough Academy

In the chronology

1. February 12, 1779 General Assembly charters an academy near Hillsborough named Science Hall Meeting at Halifax, the General Assembly passed an act to establish an academy in the neighborhood of Hillsborough, naming William Hooper, Thomas Burke, Nathaniel Rochester, James Hogg and others as trustees. The act named the school Science Hall and gave its trustees the same powers as those of Liberty Hall in Mecklenburg County. People: Alexander Martin, Nathaniel Rochester, Thomas Hart, James Hogg, Thomas Burke, William Hooper, William Johnston
2. 1785–1790 Hillsborough Academy opens in the old Anglican church The school chartered as Science Hall opened as Hillsborough Academy in the old Anglican church, which an act of the 1784 Hillsborough session had ordered repaired for a school and a free meeting house. It never thrived and closed in 1790.
3. October 16, 1801 Hillsborough Academy reopens for boys and girls under Andrew Flinn The academy's trustees announced that it had reopened on a larger plan for youth of both sexes under the Rev. Andrew Flinn, teaching Latin, Greek, English, mathematics and bookkeeping. People: William Kirkland, Duncan Cameron, William Cain Sr., Walter Alves
4. March 18, 1803 Hillsborough Academy trustees engage Thomas Baron after George Johnston fails to arrive The academy trustees, Walter Alves among them, announced that George Johnston had not taken charge as promised and that they had engaged Thomas Baron, a Harvard graduate, to teach languages, arithmetic, geography and mathematics. People: William Kirkland, Duncan Cameron, George Johnston
5. 1804 Richard Henderson becomes head of Hillsborough Academy In 1804 Hillsborough Academy announced Richard Henderson, formerly a professor at the university, as its head. People: Richard Henderson
6. February 1812 Rev. William Bingham takes charge of Hillsborough Academy The trustees announced that the Rev. William Bingham had taken charge of Hillsborough Academy, with exercises to begin on February 3 and Elizabeth Russell in charge of a female department.
7. 1814 Hillsborough Academy is rechartered Hillsborough Academy received a new charter from the General Assembly in 1814.
8. 1815 A Mr. Graham and Miss Farley take charge of Hillsborough Academy After William Bingham left in 1815, Hillsborough Academy was run for a time by a teacher named Graham, with Miss Farley presumably over the female department.
9. 1816 William Norwood becomes a trustee of Hillsborough Academy William Norwood was a trustee of Hillsborough Academy by 1816 and chaired its board in 1826.
10. 1816 Witherspoon takes charge of the Hillsborough Academy Returning to Hillsborough at twenty-five, Witherspoon took a double charge: the pastorate of the newly built Presbyterian church and the principalship of the closely allied Hillsborough Academy. He gave up the academy sometime after 1819.
11. December 11, 1818 Hillsborough Academy publishes its rules for students Under principal John Witherspoon, Hillsborough Academy printed its rules of conduct in the Raleigh Register. Students had to attend daily worship, stay out of stores and taverns, avoid liquor, and keep the Sabbath. People: John Knox Witherspoon
12. 1819 The university closes its grammar school and makes Hillsborough Academy its preparatory school When Abner W. Clopton gave up the grammar school the university dropped it. Caldwell arranged for Hillsborough Academy, under John Witherspoon with John Rogers teaching, to prepare boys for the university, whose faculty could attend its examinations and admit its top pupils on certificate. People: Abner Wentworth Clopton, John Knox Witherspoon, Joseph Caldwell
13. 1820 Eagle Lodge votes money toward a male academy in Hillsborough A year after its revival, Eagle Lodge voted to put money toward building a male academy in Hillsborough.
14. 1822 to 1826 John Rogers runs Hillsborough Academy John Rogers ran Hillsborough Academy from 1822 to 1826, when W. J. Bingham succeeded him. People: William Bingham (1835-1873)
15. 1827–1844 William James Bingham becomes principal of Hillsborough Academy After John Rogers resigned, the trustees engaged William James Bingham as principal of Hillsborough Academy, where he taught until he moved his school to the country in 1844. People: William James Bingham, John Rogers
16. November 1844 William James Bingham opens his school at the Oaks William James Bingham gave up Hillsborough Academy after its spring 1844 session and in May announced a select classical and mathematical school twelve miles southwest of Hillsborough, to open that November on the Oaks tract he bought the same year. It became known as the Bingham School and stayed at the Oaks until December 1864. People: William James Bingham
17. 1845 Hillsborough citizens pay to refit the academy building for the Caldwell Institute Townspeople paid for the repair and enlargement of the Hillsborough Academy building so that the Caldwell Institute could move in from Greensboro. The older school was absorbed into the institute under Alexander Wilson.
18. July 9, 1845 Caldwell Institute reopens in Hillsborough after leaving Greensboro The Orange Presbytery's Caldwell Institute, founded at Greensboro, moved to Hillsborough and began its first session there on July 9, 1845, with Alexander Wilson as president. It used the Hillsborough Academy building and absorbed that school. People: Alexander Wilson
19. 1850 Caldwell Institute closes in Hillsborough The Caldwell Institute ended in 1850 after five years in Hillsborough.
20. 1851–1858 Hillsborough Academy is revived under Benjamin Huske and Ralph Graves After the Caldwell Institute closed, Benjamin R. Huske and Ralph Henry Graves revived the Hillsborough Academy, which ran until 1858. People: Ralph Henry Graves (1851-1889)
21. January 12, 1859 Hillsborough Military Academy opens Charles C. Tew, then superintendent of the South Carolina military academy at Columbia, opened the Hillsborough Military Academy on January 12, 1859, holding its first classes in the Hillsborough Academy building. Its neo-Gothic barracks west of town, built to house 125 cadets, was finished in September 1860. People: Charles Courtenay Tew

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