History: Albion Academy

Academy Rivals University

The Academy Chapel. The academy chapel was located on the third floor of North Hall, the first building built. It was here that Albion Seventh Day Baptists held church services until their existing church was built in 1861.

— Photo courtesy of Seventh Day Baptist Historical Society

Main Hall. Main Hall, the largest building, housed classrooms, the cafeteria, and the women's dormitory.

South Hall. South Hall was later known as Kumlien Hall in honor of the academy's renowned, world-famous naturalist professor, Dr. Thure Kumlien. It had classrooms on the third floor and men's lodging on the first two floors. It was the last academy building standing and was conveyed to the Albion Academy Historical Society for a museum in 1959. It burned to the ground in 1965. A two-story replica was later rebuilt and once again houses the Albion Academy Museum.

Albion Academy Historical Marker. A sign depicting the history of the Albion Academy stands outside the present museum.
— Photo: by C. L. Jaworski

"[Albion Academy] once was the largest and most influential college in Wisconsin . . . . Its palmy days lasted about 25 years, during which it was more famous and had more students than the University of Wisconsin."
— Milwaukee Journal, 1946

Albion Academy, the first coeducational academy in the state, was chartered by the legislature of Wisconsin in 1853 under the guidance of the Northwestern Association of Seventh Day Baptists.

Situated on a 12-acre campus in the center of Albion, the school, constructed over a period of years, consisted of three brick buildings and “the finest steel flagpole in the state at 149.5 feet.” The school opened in the fall of 1854 following the completion of the first of its three buildings.

It was the stated purpose of its Seventh Day Baptist founders to offer an academic education at a cost so low that anyone who had desire or ambition - male or female - could afford to attend.

The academy offered a course of study of college rank, completion of which led to the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy (Ph.B) for men and Laureate of Philosophy (Ph.L) for women.

The school was well equipped for teaching physics, chemistry, botany, physiology, and geography. Notable among its faculty was Dr. Thure Kumlien, world-famous naturalist. Other courses of study at the academy included Greek, Latin, mathematics, music, elocution, teacher education, and bookkeeping.

Over the years, attendance ranged up to 325 students.

Graduates of the academy included a United States senator, U.S. congressman, three-time governor of Colorado; Wisconsin Supreme Court judge, district judge, attorney general; and countess numbers of noted botanists, naturalists, professors, teachers, attorneys, musicians, and clergy.

Prior to and during the Civil War, the academy was a ‘hotbed’ of anti-slavery sentiment. After the church was built, a secret underground room was hollowed out beneath it to hide runaway slaves as part of the Underground Railroad system, which funneled slaves to freedom in Canada.

The first academy building built, known as North Hall or the Chapel, was, according to sources, of red brick. The third floor contained a large room with a stage at one end and was used for both chapel and social affairs. It was here that the Albion SDB congregation met until their church was built in 1861. The lower two floors housed classrooms and lodging quarters. In 1942-1943, this building, deteriorating badly, was razed by the township.

The middle building, known as Main Hall, was of yellow brick. It was the largest building, standing four-stories high, and housed classrooms and the ladies dormitory. A cafeteria for students and faculty was located on the first level. This building, the first to be destroyed, burned down in 1917.

The south building, known as South Hall and later as Kumlien Hall, was also of yellow brick. It had classrooms on the third floor and rooms for male students on the two lower floors.

In 1875 the Wisconsin legislature passed “an act to authorize the establishment and aid in the maintenance of free high schools.” This act, for the first time providing a free high school education, 'sealed the fate' of many of the early academies, which often offered, for a fee, a combined high school and college education. By 1892, attendance at Albion Academy began to decline and it closed its doors for two years. From 1894 to 1901, it reopened as a private school under the leadership of Professor Peter Hendrickson. In 1901, it was purchased by the Norwegian Synod and operated as the H.A. Preus Lutheran Academy. Later, it was owned by the Norwegian Lutheran Church of America. In 1918, this once-grand academy closed its doors for good following the double blow of the loss of its largest building, Main Hall, in a fire the year before and declining enrollment during World War I.

In 1928, the Town of Albion purchased the buildings and 12-acre campus for a public park. In 1942-1943, it demolished North Hall due to its deteriorating condition. In 1959, it conveyed the remaining building, Kumlien Hall, to the Albion Academy Historical Society for preservation as a museum. This building— the last of historic Albion Academy—burned down in a mysterious fire in 1965. A two-story replica was rebuilt in 1967 and again houses the museum. Two original academy structures, however, still remain: the 149.5-foot-tall steel flagpole and a stone pump house that supplied the academy's water.

Sources: J. Q. Emery, “Albion Academy,” The Wisconsin Magazine of History: Vol. 7, No. 3, March 1924; Prof. A.R. Cornwall, “Albion,” Madison, Dane County and surrounding towns, 1877; “Now Forgotten Albion Was Big State College,” Milwaukee Journal, April 14, 1946; Albion Academy Historic Marker; Albion Seventh Day Baptist Church historical records.