Thornton Academy history

After successful fundraising and construction, Saco Academy officially opened on January 4, 1813.

The academy was destroyed by fire on July 28, 1848, in what was concluded to be arson, although no culprit was ever found.

Although the board of trustees continued to meet and discuss the school's future, serious efforts to rebuild the school were not taken until 1884, when investments by trustee James W. Bradbury had more than quintupled the academy's financial endowment.

In 1886 8 acres (3.2 ha) of land were purchased by the board at the corner of Main Street and Fairfield Street in Saco as the future site of Thornton Academy.

The following was from the April 1888 edition of the Tripod:

Today the original building is referred to as the Main Building. It officially re-opened on September 6, 1889 and began its school year three days later with a class of 108 students.

As the December 1901 Tripod put it, "Such a slump in the excitement, now the football season is over." Sports teams held banquets, sleigh rides and evening events with music, a basketball game and dancing.

The school became a multi-building campus in 1903 when the library was built for $20,000.

Ernest Woodbury was the first resident as he took over the headmaster position after Edwin Sampson resigned in 1905.

The third building on campus was the Academy House, the white, colonial-style house completed in 1906 as the home for TA's headmasters.

The Math Society, TA's first honorary society, was organized in 1920.

For the first time a Maine governor visited Thornton Academy when Percival Baxter delivered an address to students in 1921.

Thornton got its own radio station in the spring of 1922, only a year and a half after the first commercial radio station began broadcasting in Pittsburg.

The first TA yearbook came out in 1932 and cost $1.65.

The school bell was moved to the roof of the annex and the bell tower atop the main building became an observatory in 1936 when trustee Frank C. Deering donated a telescope.

The tripod, the school newspaper since TA opened, published its last issue in 1942.

Ninety-five boys from the classes of 1943, '44 and '45 joined the service.

Thornton's first marching band came together in 1947.

Greene (headmaster), other instruments were obtained." The band played for the first time in uniform at a Thornton-St Louis basketball game in 1949.

The Student Council. which had had a number of starts and stops over the years, finally took hold in 1950 and continued every year of the decade.

Turning to the alumni, the trustees found once again their generous support, and the John S. Locke Building was opened in 1957.

A new cafeteria was built in the summer of 1958.

There was a growing emphasis being placed on going to college. "The youth who does not continue his education after high school will have less chance than those who do not share in the dividends of our nation's highly competitive future," a student wrote in 1961.

In 1962, TA started offering six-week summer school courses.

The gym hosted the Portland Symphony Orchestra and the class of 1964 was the first to graduate in the new gymnasium.

Under the guidance of Headmaster Robert Bowie and Alumni Director Hank LaValle, this goal was reached in 1967.

Again, almost like clockwork, showing the dedication of the alumni to this program of growth, the Industrial Arts Building was opened at 1970.

The class of 1981 was the first class to graduate outdoors in the new stadium.

In 1987, James Jortberg retired after 15 years, and Carl Stasio, Jr. took over as headmaster.

In 1996, 54,000 square feet were added, linking the Main Building with the Scamman Science Building, and adding the Mary Hyde Library, the Helen Atkinson Dining Commons, the Harry Garland Auditorium, six arts classrooms and six math classrooms.

In fall 2006, Thornton Academy Middle School was opened on campus in the completely renovated footprint of the Fine Arts Building.

In the summer of 2011, Thornton Academy built and opened a second dormitory, which is called Carl and Barbara Stasio Residence Hall, after the previous headmaster and his wife.