Cheshire Academy
Cheshire Academy is a selective, co-educational college preparatory school located in Cheshire, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1794 as the Episcopal Academy of Connecticut, it is the eleventh oldest boarding school in the United States. In 1917, the school was renamed The Roxbury School, and trained young men exclusively for the purpose of attending nearby Yale University. Later known as Cheshire Academy, the school was the first private academic institution to accept international students dating back to the 1850s, and it is the only independent school to offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme in the state of Connecticut. The Academy enrolls about 350 students from approximately 31 countries and 19 states in grades 9 through 12 plus a postgraduate year. Campus The campus of is located in the center of the town of Cheshire. The campus includes five residential dormitories and facilities including the John J. White '38 Science & Technology Center and the Humanities Building. All areas of campus are equipped with wireless access and a fiber optic network with 30 Mb/s access to the internet. In the fall of 2011, Cheshire Academy saw the dedication of the new Simosa track and field. Over the summer before the 2022-2023 school year, Cheshire Academy constructed new tennis courts and playing fields on their campus. At the same time, Cheshire Academy had the Simosa track and field updated. History The town of Cheshire, established in 1780, was originally known for its lighting industry, copper mining, and agricultural productivity. Samuel Seabury, the first Episcopal Bishop of Connecticut, established the Episcopal Academy in 1794, which would later endure several incarnations as The Cheshire School (in the early 1900s), The Roxbury School in 1917, and finally, Cheshire Academy in 1937. Under the first headmaster, Rev. John Bowden, the school became renowned not only for training young men for the clergy, but also for educating students in the fields of English, Latin and Greek, philosophy, mathematics, and the sciences taught by leading colleges in the country at the time. Erected in 1796, Bowden Hall, the oldest schoolhouse still in continuous use in the state of Connecticut and tenth oldest schoolhouse in the United States, became an all-Cheshire community project, with funds to build the school donated by both churches and local proprietors. In 1806, Dr. Tillotson Bronson was elected as headmaster. During his twenty-year term at the school, Bronson deemed that young women would be admitted to this once all-male institution, a rare allowance for women at the time. For this reason, many young women were sent to attend the school from distant townships in order to take advantage of such a unique educational opportunity. Another liberal tenet of the school at this time, as drafted in the school's constitution, was that students were allowed the freedom to practice the religion of their family's choice, regardless of the school's Episcopal affiliation. As stated in the ninth article of the constitution of the Episcopal Academy, "No Bye Laws of the Academy shall compel the Students to