On April 24, at a meeting of the village trustees, it was voted to raise the sum of $1,400 “by a tax on the inhabitants and free-holders of this village to be appropriated at the discretion of the Trustees for defraying the expense of erecting a school house in the said village suitable and convenient for a common school.” Nicholas Low, with his accustomed liberality and public spirit made a gift of the land required, and the large two-story building so long known as “The Academy” was erected the same year. It was located on the south side of Galway Street, at the head of a new street which was opened from Front Street to provide ready access to the new school, the street receiving the appropriate name of Science street. The first teacher was Mr. Blain, who taught the school for two years. Mr. Gunnison was his successor in the fall of 1813, and announced in a village paper that an evening school would be opened in November in “The Academy.”
