History of the Stockton Academy

The Stockton Academy was built by the Congregational Education Association in 1887. The Academy was an extension of the preparatory department of the Washburn College at Topeka, Kansas. The first year started on October 5th, 1887 with approximately 50 students. Enrollment during the final year in 1895 was 30 students.

Some of the classes were language, mathematics, history, art and music, which included vocal, wind and string instruments.

The young ladies boarding at the Academy were furnished with a bedstead and mattress or straw bed, study table, wash stand, two chairs and usually a stove. The young men found boarding rooms in private homes nearby at 25 cents a week.

With the closing of the Academy in 1895, the Stockton High Scool held its first class in 1898. District #6 purchased the building and land in 1902. With improvements to the building and rooms for the boarding students, the first class to be Stockton High School graduates were Katherine Schruben and Edith McGee in 1896.

The above pictures were in the 1913 “Prairie Dog” annual yearbook. The house in the background was where the teachers resided. Today the home is owned by Marta and the late Kent Johnston. Gone is the “temple of learning” with the last class of 1922-1923.—Sent in by Lorabelle Sander