Betts Academy

Betts Academy
Location
Stamford, Connecticut
Information
Type	Private Academy

Betts Academy was a well-known private academy in Stamford, Connecticut that operated from 1838 to 1908.

History

The school was founded in 1838 in North Stamford by James Betts, a Congregational Church deacon originally from Wilton, Connecticut.[1] Later his son, William J. Betts, became principal of the school, and the Academy was relocated to Strawberry Hill overlooking Long Island Sound in Stamford.[2][1][3] The school burned in a fire in 1908 and was closed that year.[4]

Notable alumni

• Henry Osborne Havemeyer, businessman
• Theodore Havemeyer, businessman, co-founder of United States Golf Association and U.S. Open
• Eugene O'Neill, Playwright[3]

References

1. Edward T. W. Gillespie (1892). Picturesque Stamford: A Souvenir of the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Settlement of the Town of Stamford. Gillespie Bros. p. 192.
2. Huntington, Elijah Baldwin (1868). History of Stamford, Connecticut: From Its Settlement in 1641, to the Present Time, Including Darien, which was One of Its Parishes Until 1820. Huntington, Elijah Baldwin. p. 350.
3. "Education Spelled Freedom". The Stamford Historical Society.
4. "SCHOOLBOYS SAVE MATES FROM FIRE; Two Students Hung from Window Sill of Old Betts Academy." New York Times, Jan. 23, 1908