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Foundation of Phillips Academy
USINFO | 2013-12-06 15:20
Student body, Phillips Andover, 1910
Phillips Academy was founded during the American Revolution as an all-boys school in 1778 by Samuel Phillips, Jr., a member of the revolutionary war family, the Phillipses. The great seal of the school was designed by Paul Revere. George Washington[citation needed] spoke at the school in its first year and was so impressed that he recommended that his nephews go there, which they did.John Hancock, the famous signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, signed the school's articles of incorporation. Phillips Academy's traditional opponent is Phillips Exeter Academy, which was established three years later in Exeter, New Hampshire by Samuel Phillips' uncle, Dr. John Phillips. There has been a long and intense relationship between the two schools. The football teams have met nearly every year since 1878, making it the oldest high school rivalry in the country.[citation needed] In 1882, the first high school lacrosse teams were formed at Phillips Academy, Phillips Exeter Academy and the Lawrenceville School, solidifying the role of Andover and Exeter as pioneers in secondary school athletics.
For 100 years of its history, Phillips Academy shared its campus with the Andover Theological Seminary, which was founded on Phillips Hill in 1807 by orthodox Calvinists who had fled Harvard College after it appointed a liberal Unitarian theologian to a professorship of divinity.The Andover Theological Seminary was independent from Phillips Academy but shared the same board of directors. In 1908, the seminary departed Phillips Academy, leaving behind its key buildings: academic building Pearson Hall (formerly a chapel), and dormitories Foxcroft Hall and Bartlet Hall. These buildings later became the heart of the Andover campus, which was expanded in the 1920s and 30s around this historic core with new buildings of similar Georgian style: Samuel Phillips Hall, George Washington Hall, Samuel Morse Hall, Paul Revere Hall, Oliver Wendell Holmes Library, Commons, the Addison Gallery of American Art and Cochran Chapel.Along with this new construction, at least nine existing buildings were moved to make way for the Vista and the Great Lawn and the creation of a formal West Quad. Small portions of Andover's campus were laid out by Frederick Law Olmsted, designer of Central Park and himself a graduate of the school. Other campus structures include the Memorial Bell Tower, which recently underwent a $5 million renovation, Samuel Phillips Hall, Bulfinch Hall, and Pearson Hall.
Paul Revere incorporated bees, a beehive, and the sun into his design of the school's seal, which is masonic in nature. The school's primary motto, Non Sibi, located in the sun, means "not for oneself". This has led to the development of Non Sibi Day, a day when many of Andover alumni and all of its students participate in community service across the world. The school's second motto,Finis Origine Pendet, meaning "the end depends upon the beginning", is scrolled across the bottom of the seal. Phillips Academy aims to attract and educate "qualified youth from every quarter", a phrase often used by the admissions department.
For 100 years of its history, Phillips Academy shared its campus with the Andover Theological Seminary, which was founded on Phillips Hill in 1807 by orthodox Calvinists who had fled Harvard College after it appointed a liberal Unitarian theologian to a professorship of divinity.The Andover Theological Seminary was independent from Phillips Academy but shared the same board of directors. In 1908, the seminary departed Phillips Academy, leaving behind its key buildings: academic building Pearson Hall (formerly a chapel), and dormitories Foxcroft Hall and Bartlet Hall. These buildings later became the heart of the Andover campus, which was expanded in the 1920s and 30s around this historic core with new buildings of similar Georgian style: Samuel Phillips Hall, George Washington Hall, Samuel Morse Hall, Paul Revere Hall, Oliver Wendell Holmes Library, Commons, the Addison Gallery of American Art and Cochran Chapel.Along with this new construction, at least nine existing buildings were moved to make way for the Vista and the Great Lawn and the creation of a formal West Quad. Small portions of Andover's campus were laid out by Frederick Law Olmsted, designer of Central Park and himself a graduate of the school. Other campus structures include the Memorial Bell Tower, which recently underwent a $5 million renovation, Samuel Phillips Hall, Bulfinch Hall, and Pearson Hall.
Paul Revere incorporated bees, a beehive, and the sun into his design of the school's seal, which is masonic in nature. The school's primary motto, Non Sibi, located in the sun, means "not for oneself". This has led to the development of Non Sibi Day, a day when many of Andover alumni and all of its students participate in community service across the world. The school's second motto,Finis Origine Pendet, meaning "the end depends upon the beginning", is scrolled across the bottom of the seal. Phillips Academy aims to attract and educate "qualified youth from every quarter", a phrase often used by the admissions department.
