Celebrating the Bicentennial of the First Day of Classes

Kimball Union's First Day of Classes, Saturday, January 10, 1815
 
This Saturday will mark the bicentennial of the first day of classes here on The Hilltop. Seven students attended that day, January 10, 1815. As we celebrate our 40th anniversary of the return to co-education, it is noteworthy that Kimball Union allowed young women to study at the Academy from its earliest days. The school’s long and storied history is well documented in the  Academy's history book, On the Hilltop, and in posts by KUA Archivist Jane Carver Fielder on KUA's Archives Blog.
 
As today’s students walk to class along ice-covered paths, bundled up in down jackets and polar fleece hats against the unforgiving January wind, one might wonder what students experienced here 200 years ago. The campus was in its infancy, with Daniel Kimball himself building its first structures. It was said that ". . . together with his old mare, he laid the foundation with his own hands," and so, ". . . endowed [the Academy] living and dying.” The first school building was dedicated on January 9, 1815 - instruction began the next day.
 
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