As Elgin Academy prepares to close for good after after 185 years, three women have put together an Elgin History Museum exhibit to document and preserve the institution’s importance to the city.
“I think people will be most surprised to learn just how long we have been around and that we are the oldest school west of the Allegheny Mountains,” one of those volunteers, Laura Anderson, said.
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Anderson, an academy board trustee for 35 years, joined forces with Tanya Moore, the school’s website manager, and designer Kristen Brown to create the exhibit, which will remain on permanent display at the museum.
“I personally find all the historic photographs fascinating,” she said. “The ladies in their lace dresses and men in their suits with soft bow ties are beautiful. They came to Elgin Academy to get a great education and studied around fireplaces and candlelight in the beginning.”
Anderson estimates there are 300 to 400 items that make up the display, including documentation showing the Illinois General Assembly granted the nondenominational, coeducational school a charter on Feb. 22, 1839. That was just four years after the city of Elgin was founded by James T. Gifford, a driving force behind academy, she said.
The exhibit also displays diplomas from the late 1800s, including the one awarded to Laura Davidson in 1872, the academy’s first graduate. Davidson married Judge Nathaniel Sears, and over the decades the couple became generous benefactors to the school. The Davidson Sears Academy of Fine Arts, named in their honor, was built in 1924 with funds they donated.
Another item in the collection is the academy’s bell. It was put in place in 1857 in Old Main, the school’s original building that’s now home to the history museum.
After being hit by lightning in 1911, the bell crashed through the building and caused a devastating fire. In 1958, the bell was moved to the entrance of the school gym.
Putting together the exhibit has been a bittersweet experience, Anderson admitted.
Her son, Nate, graduated from the school in 1998 followed by her daughter, Katy, in 2000. She’s been a school volunteer for 38 years.
“I’ve stayed involved because it’s been a great environment for kids to learn and achieve their academic goals,” Anderson said. “We have had a wide range of kids from different nationalities and religions that our kids learn from and become good friends with.”
The exhibit room opens for viewing this weekend at an anniversary gathering for alumni, current and former faculty, and trustees. The public can check it out starting this coming week.
A special exhibit put together by the academy’s 185 current students in the Laura Davidson Sears Fine Arts Gallery in Sears Hall will be unveiled this weekend as well.
“Our goal as a board is to make this year as good as every other year and close with dignity and class,” Anderson said.
That said, it’s difficult not to be heartbroken at the prospect but the goal is to keep a positive outlook, she said.
“No matter how sad, I’ve chosen to celebrate our long history and not wallow in the reality of the closure,” she said.
Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.