Sewickley Academy history

The pace quickened with the arrival of the railroad in 1851, transforming what was a sparsely settled rural community into a very desirable suburb of the City of Pittsburgh.

On July 6, 1853, the Borough of Sewickley was incorporated.

In 1854, Laughlin joined the group and bought out the Lauths’ interests.

1865: The Old Brick Church After the conclusion of the Civil War, community members rallied together to reopen the school.

Cochran Fleming purchased much of this land in 1881, attempting to develop a dairy farm, but the operation went bankrupt.

In 1883, he began his career as a clerk at the Laughlin Nail Company of Wheeling, later working at the Junction Iron Company, also in Wheeling.

1892: Miss Munson and Miss Dickinson After a series of different iterations of the Academy, Sewickley education is handed over to two educators, Miss Munson and Miss Dickinson.

In 1904, Laughlin purchased the Pittsburgh Steel Construction Company in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, and shortly thereafter purchased land in Economy (later Ambridge), where he built a modern structural steel plant.

A History of the Presbyterian Church of Sewickley, Pennsylvania, prepared by a Committee of the Congregation in 1914, contains a chapter by Franklin Taylor Nevin entitled “Sewickley: A Historical Sketch.” On page 80, he states:

1926 The Sewickley Echo was a brochure/yearbook from the first year of the newly consolidated Academy.

1932 The Academy opened its doors on the cusp of the Great Depression and the school was not immune to the national financial crisis.

In 1933, Alexander C. Tener, Chairman of the Board of Trustees for Sewickley Academy at that time, wrote to all of the trustees asking each to underwrite $300 of the operating deficit for that year, so they could close the books and keep the school open.

1934 Academy students use their creative skills for a production of Alice in Wonderland in 1934.

In 1935, Sewickley Heights Borough was formed.

He delegated him to program and build a Senior School (one class year at a time). The first class graduated from this new Senior School in 1966.

She joined the Herald staff in 1970 as society editor.

In 1973, she called the first meeting of what became the Sewickley Valley Historical Society and is listed as a founding member.

The following, excerpted from an article by B. G. Y. Shields, appeared in the Sewickley Herald, March 24, 1976.

The 1997 boys' basketball team won the PIAA Championship, which was the Academy's first-ever state championship in any sport.

The Clark Faculty Chair was established in 2003 to honor the Clarks' many contributions to the Academy community.

In 2004, a strategic plan was developed that included input from 700 members of the Academy community.

After retiring from the Herald, she became executive director of the society, serving until 2005 when she moved to Lemont.

Centered on these strategic goals, the PICTURE THIS Campaign was launched in 2007 as the most ambitious fundraising effort in school history.