Pierpoint Bacon was born in Middletown on May 27, 1724, and moved to Colchester when he was twenty-one. He married Abigail Newton on March 21, 1751. She died on March 8, 1800, at the age of 75. Pierpoint died ten months later, on December 30, 1800. They had no children, and yet, over the years, more than six thousand young people have been shaped and molded by the school that bears their name – Bacon Academy in Colchester, Connecticut.

Pierpoint Bacon made his first purchase of land in Colchester in 1751 when he bought a farm on the New London Road. He and Abigail lived there and toiled ceaselessly over the years. By 1800, the year of their deaths, they owned almost 800 acres of land, much of it between “the Lyme Road and the New London Road”. On April 17, 1800, shortly after Abigail’s death, Pierpoint wrote his will. After making a few small bequests and various other arrangements, he left the remainder of his estate, about $35,000, to be used for the establishment and support of a school in the First Society of Colchester.

During the next two and half years, townspeople worked diligently to fulfill his wishes. Land for the school was bought next to the Meeting House as Bacon’s will had directed. Plans for the new building were agreed upon, and construction began. By the spring of 1803, all that remained was to present a proposed charter for the new school to the General Assembly. Town residents had already decided that the school would be named Bacon Academy.

Accordingly, on the second Thursday of May 1803, the General Assembly of the State of Connecticut enacted the proposed charter into law stating, “Resolved by this Assembly, that all persons by Law capable of voting in School Society meetings and living within the present limits of the first School Society of Colchester, be and they are as a result of this constituted, ordained and are declared to be, from time to time forever hereafter one body corporate and politic in fact and by the name of, “The Trustees and Proprietors of Bacon Academy”…”. The charter also appointed the first twelve Trustees of Bacon Academy. The whole language of the text can be found on the first page of Title 1 of the Resolves and Private Laws of the State of Connecticut.

The first meeting of the Board of Trustees was held on July 5, 1803. At its meeting in September, the Trustees adopted by-laws for the school’s governance, and the doors of Bacon Academy were opened to students in November of 1803. The first students to attend Bacon Academy were from all over Connecticut. As its reputation spread, students from New England and many other states also came to Bacon Academy. Tuition was $2.00 that first year though Colchester students attended without charge.

Soon after the Academy opened, the Trustees decided to make arrangements for the instruction of colored children. The now unused first district school was relocated to the northwest rear area behind the Congregational Church among the trees. At its opening, there were approximately 30-40 students. By the late 1840s, the number of colored students had decreased to six after the passage and enactment of the state of Connecticut Black Laws. The school closed shortly thereafter.

A Female High School was established in 1842. The third-floor room on the south side was enclosed, carpeted, and outfitted for young women. A private staircase from the first floor to the third was erected, and blinds were installed.

As the years went by, various other changes were made at Bacon Academy. Courses were added to meet the needs of a changing world. In 1886, the Academy adopted a four-year program, and the first degrees were awarded to the class of 1890.

The 100th anniversary of Bacon Academy was celebrated on August 28, 1903. The minutes of the Board of Trustees records the following statement, “We close the century with a well-organized and carefully graded high school with a four years’ course, fitting for any college, and whose diploma is accepted by all Colleges admitting by Certificate.”

The second century was to bring significant changes to Bacon Academy and the Town of Colchester.

During the 1800’s great efforts had been made to improve the quality of public education in Connecticut. Then, in 1899, the General Assembly passed the Compulsory Attendance Law. It required all children to attend school until they had reached the age of 16. This law was a major factor in the dramatic increase in enrollment at Bacon Academy. In 1907 there were 71 high school students at the Academy; twenty years later, the number had doubled.

The need for more space at Bacon Academy became a concern that would continue for many years to come. At the beginning of the 20th century, only the third floor of the Academy was used for high school classes. The bottom floors were rented to the town for grade school classes. As the years went by, the high school took over more and more classroom space until finally, the entire building was being used. Then, in 1929, Mr. Edward Day bought the old chapel from the Congregational Church and paid its renovation cost. The first floor would be used as an assembly hall, while the basement floor was outfitted as an apartment for Home Economics’s instruction. A grateful Board of Trustees named the building Day Hall.

By the 1950’s, the baby boom generation had hit Colchester, and the Board of Trustees was once again looking for more classroom space. In 1954, the Board purchased the old Grange Hall on Norwich Avenue. It was about 2000 square feet. The Trustees doubled the building’s size and outfitted the rooms for instruction in science and the teaching of art. The building, now around 5,000 square feet, opened in 1958 and was named the Arts and Sciences Building.

Even as work was being done on the new building, the town of Colchester and the Board of Trustees realized that more space was needed. A school needs committee and high school building committee were formed. Both committees were charged with determining how best to accommodate the ever-growing student population. Between 1955 and 1960, the high school population was to double in size.

These two committees, along with the Board of Education and the Board of Trustees, agreed upon a solution that would change the nature of Bacon Academy but continue to ensure a quality education for Colchester’s scholars. Bacon Academy would cease operation as a private high school and become the town’s official public high school. At the same time, the Board of Trustees, after 158 years, would cede all authority and responsibility for the operation of Bacon Academy to the Colchester Board of Education.

As a result, a town meeting was held on March 23, 1960, at which the residents of Colchester voted to appropriate $650,000 for the construction of a new junior and senior high school. A year later, at a Board of Trustees meeting held on May 25, 1961, the members unanimously approved a motion that read, “…that Bacon Academy cease operation as a high school at such time as the Board of Education and the Town of Colchester assumes operation of secondary education in the Town of Colchester.” The Colchester Board of Education assumed complete control of public secondary education with the start of the 1961 school year.

The new junior, senior high school, also named Bacon Academy, was built at the top of Norwich Avenue and opened in 1962. It was connected to Central School that was built in the 1930’s to replace all the one-room school houses in Colchester. Four years later, another school was opened on Halls Hill Road across from Central School and Bacon Academy. It housed students in the first through third grades and was eventually named Jack Jackter School. Finally, it seemed, there was more than enough classroom space In Colchester.

But it was not to be. By the mid 1980’s, Colchester was one of the fastest growing towns in Connecticut, and the population increased rapidly. Space once again became inadequate at Bacon Academy, and once again, the town appropriated money for a new high school. The third Bacon Academy was built 1.1 miles further up Norwich Avenue. Construction was finished in 1993.

Everett L. Herden, who began teaching at Bacon Academy in 1958 at the Arts and Sciences building and who had witnessed so many of the changes that had occurred in the ensuing years, spoke at the October 1993 dedication ceremony. He said, “This day represents a once in a lifetime event when Bacon Academy’s past, present, and future come together to honor the legacy of one small rural school that started so many years ago in 1803.”

Today, the Bacon Academy Board of Trustees continues to oversee Historic Bacon Academy, Day Hall and the DAR House.

Twelve trustees serve on the Board, as it was originally designed under the by-laws. The position of trustee is a lifelong commitment, or until one chooses to retire their position.

Noted Bacon Academy Graduates Include:

Steven Austin, the school’s first graduate and along with Sam Houston, is considered one of the founders of an independent Texas.

William Buckingham, Governor of Connecticut from 1858 – 1866.

Morgan Bulkeley, Governor of Connecticut from 1889 – 1893.

Lyman Trumbull, Governor of Illinois, Senator from Illinois and friend and confidant of Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War.

Morrison Waite, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Eliphalet Bulkeley, founder and first president of Aetna Life Insurance Company.

Edwin B. Cragin, an eminent surgeon who financed the building of the Cragin Memorial Library.