Early Academies

EARLY ACADEMIES. Early academies were private, state-chartered institutions. Only a year after the town founding in 1809, commissioners were appointed to organize Morgan County's first academy, officially incorporated as the Madison Academy in 1815. Both male and female departments received tracts of land, and the Male Academy built a fine, two-story brick structure here.

A variety of private schools also operated in personal homes. Several were located along Porter Street. Private instruction was usually segregated by gender and ranged from primary to high school curriculum. Many younger children received their start in education in Holly Hall from Sarah Benham Judd Cooke and her daughter, proprietors of one of the south's earliest kindergartens.

Several private schools were operational into the late 1880s. These academies and schools charged tuition. They were eligible for funds established for the public school system under the 1868 State Constitution, but private education waned when Madison began public education in 1895. City of Madison Madison Bicentennial Commission 1809-2009 A Preserve America Community