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Worthington Academy
The educational excellence which Worthington values began with community founders who set aside a one hundred acre farm lot to support a school, and established the Worthington Academy soon after their arrival. Today Evening Street Elementary and Worthington High School occupy that farm lot, while the educational administration building and part of Kilbourne School occupy the academy site.
Worthington pioneers wanted more for their children than basic reading, writing, and arithmetic. When the Ohio General Assembly incorporated the Worthington Academy February 20, 1808, James Kilbourne, Isaac Case, Moses Maynard, Ezra Griswold, Alexander Morrison Jr., Thomas Palmer, and Noah Andrews were appointed trustees. Each person who contributed $5 had one voting share in the annual election of seven trustees, a clerk, and treasurer.
The academy was established as a subscription school with trustees representing the Episcopal Church, and not all settlers supported its creation. William Thompson, one of the largest Scioto Company landowners, had written Representative Baldwin, "A number of us inhabitants of the Town of Worthington & in its Vicinity apply to you to assist us to rid us of the diabolical plans that James Kilbourn & his associates have contrived in order to tax us without our consent or agreement."
Thompson pointed out that "We have gave at the formation of the company a tract of land for the use of a common School as we then Supposed would be an ample support yearly at the common rate of renting land, the income of which is now worth upwards of One hundred Dollars per year. . . ."He pointed out that some of the protesters had subscribed generously to construct an academy building, but objected to a property tax to support its operation. This argument prevailed. The Ohio General Assembly was not ready to levy taxes for primary schools, let alone secondary.
Relying on subscriptions, a brick building was constructed. The academy began with a commitment to excellence modeled on New England classical grammar and preparatory schools. The earliest existing contract is for John Kilbourn A.B., as principal at $350 per year in quarterly payments beginning January 1, 1811. Four quarters of schooling taught by a college graduate was outstanding in such a new community. The first statistics for common schools in Ohio nearly thirty years later show an average term of four months, and an average teacher's salary of $13.43 per month. As late as 1848, primary teachers in Columbus were paid $160 and secondary $200 per year, and well into the 20th century public school certification was granted to persons without a college degree.
When Rev. Philander Chase settled in Worthington in 1817, he became principal of the academy as well as pastor of St. John's Church. He either led or supported plans for an advanced level of education, for on February 8, 1819 the Ohio General Assembly chartered Worthington College. The original trustees were listed as Philander Chase, James Kilbourn, Thomas S. Webb, Chester Griswold, Recompense Stansbery, Chauncey Barker, Stephen Maynard, Ezra Griswold, Benjamin Gardiner, Orris Parish, Lucas Sullivant, and Leonard H. Cowles. They assumed responsibility jointly for the academy as well as the college. While most of the trustees continued to be Worthington men, the inclusion of Columbus leaders such as Sullivant, Gardiner, Cowles, and Parrish shows an expectation that the college would draw from a wider geographic area.
A large brick wing was added, with a "spacious hall for speaking and recitation" on the second floor. But the economy was depressed and the Worthington Manufacturing Company was bankrupt. Chase's son, Philander Jr., became ill and was unable to fulfill his appointment to teach Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. The twenty-two boys who completed their examinations in May 1821 included Chase's nephew, future Ohio Governor Salmon P. Chase, and several sons of leading Ohio families. The age of Worthington boys such as eleven year old Lincoln Kilbourn reflect the school's preparatory status. The college never became financially successful, and Rev. Chase moved to a position in Cincinnati.
But the "Worthington Academy" continued with Kilbourne as president of the trustees. In 1822 courses were advertised from $2.50 per quarter for "reading, spelling & common Writing" to $6.00 for "Latin, with Greek or French." Boarding with "respectable families" included "lodging, washing, lights and fuel" for $1.50 per week.
In February 1829, the Columbus Presbytery encompassing Pickaway, Franklin, Delaware, and Union counties was chartered to operate an academy. For several years they conducted the "Worthington Academy" with Rev. James Hoge of Columbus as president of the board. Worthington doctors Daniel Upson and Kingsley Ray were trustees during this period. Teachers had college degrees, including Yale graduate Mr. Dana, Henry Eells of Hamilton College in New York, and Henry Ballentine of Ohio University. The church connection was emphasized by holding examinations in composition and declamation in September 1832 in the recently completed Presbyterian Church.
At this time, two sessions of five months each were provided at $3, $6, or $10 depending upon the course of study. Accommodations in the boarding house or with private families were $1 to $1.25 per week. The term beginning April 23, 1832 offered young men an opportunity "to labor in the work shop, attached to the Academy, or on the lands belonging to it, in horticulture or agriculture, for the preservation of health, and to enable them to defray in part the expenses of their education." Interesting evidence of cooperative work experience in an institution dedicated to "Science and Literature."
The following year J.R. Paddock, principal of the "Worthington Classical Institution" advertised an eleven week term commencing 30th. Students were charged $5 for arithmetic, geography, rhetoric, or history; $6 for English grammar, mensuration, or surveying; $7 for languages, higher mathematics, natural and mental philosophy, or natural science. Paddock became botany and chemistry professor for the Worthington Medical College, illustrating the extent to which Worthington Academy facilities and faculty were utilized to encourage other educational purposes. But that is a story for another chapter, as are the stories of common schools and educational opportunities for girls.
The Worthington Academy did not replace the common school. It was a subscription school with a good reputation for offering young men a preparatory education. It enhanced the quality of life in Worthington during the first half of the 19th century in many ways.
SOURCES:
The Worthington Academy incorporation is in Laws of Ohio. FLM 249, Vol. 6, pp. 51-54, Ohio Historical Society. William Thompson's letter to Representative Baldwin, 4 January 1808 is in the Griswold Family Papers, MSS 193, Box 1, Ohio Historical Society.
John Kilbourn's contract from the Worthington Academy trustees 30 November 1810 is in the Griswold Family Papers, HSS 193, Box 6, Folder 8, Ohio Historical Society. Ohio school salaries are shown in the a report of Samuel Lewis, Commissioner of Common Schools, 36th Ohio General Assembly, Document 17, p. 48.
The act to establish Worthington College is in Laws of Ohio FLM 249, Vol. 17, pp. 154-160, Ohio Historical Society. Newspaper notices relating to Worthington College are in the Columbus Gazette, 28 October 1819 and 24 January 1820. Names of students and titles of their declamations are in the Franklin Chronicle, 7 May 1821. Kilbourne advertised for the Worthington Academy in the Delaware Patron, 25 March 1822.
The incorporation of the Columbus Presbytery Academy is in Laws of Ohio. FLM 249, Vol. 27, pp. 131-133, Ohio Historical Society. Advertisements appear in the Ohio State Journal. 24 June 1829, 21 April 1832, and 21 September 1832.
J.R. Paddock's "Worthington Classical Institution" was advertised in the Ohio State Journal, 18 July 1833.
This article is one of a series of 31 articles originally published in the Worthington News and then in the book "Probing Worthington's Heritage" copyright by Robert and Jennie McCormick. The 1990 book is out of print, but copies are available at the libraries of the Worthington Historical Society and the Old Worthington Library. Much of this content was later included in the book "New Englanders on the Ohio Frontier" which can be purchased at our Gift Shop.
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