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The first quadrant to be investigated in this effort is that area north and east of the intersections of Main and Salem Streets. Prior to the establishment of Phillips School, this area was quite barren but in the earlier days of the Academy life it was the seat of the Andover Theological Seminary. Following the transition into the twentieth century, the Academy spread its sphere of influence from the west side of Main Street to the east side and established the Great Quadrangle, the Vista, most all of the recitation buildings and the administration functions in this northeast quadrant.
At the time of the Academy founding in April 1778 there was only one building in place in the northeast quadrant --- the Blunt Tavern. This dwelling was built by Capt. Isaac Blunt sometime before 1765 on the north side of Salem Street just east of the present site of the Commons. One of his sons was one of the first thirteen students of Phillips School in 1778. Ownership of this dwelling was maintained within the Blunt family for three generations before being sold to a Mr. Holt and then, in turn, to the Berry family in the 1870's. The building was operated as a boarding and rooming house by the Berry family and was acquired by the Academy Trustees in 1923.
In 1929, the year before the opening of the Commons, the Berry House provided accommodations for eight roomers and sixty-five boarders and was under the resident leadership of Mr. Roscoe E. Dake. It was torn down in 1930, after the Commons opened, and the land was graded to provide an open expanse from the Commons to the PBX Society House.
Blanchard House, originally located just west of Blunt Tavern/Berry House and across Salem Street from Hardy House, was built by John Blanchard prior to 1800. By 1802 it was occupied by Deacon Amos Blanchard, the first cashier of the Andover Bank, who was permitted to take in seven boys as boarders. On the ground floor there were three large, well lighted rooms and an immense kitchen with a great fireplace. Three separate staircases led to the second floor where there were four or five more spacious rooms; one, at least, was beautifully panelled. Through the center of the house rose an immense square chimney, six and a half feet on each side, giving that impression of strength and solidarity characteristic of old New England houses, and opening into a number of wide, old fashioned fireplaces.
The dwelling was purchased by the Trustees from Madame Phillips in 1812 and was then rented to the eccentric Josiah Clough, typesetter in the press room of Flagg and Gould. In August 1858 it was moved across the lane which led to the Seminary buildings to the east side thereof. During this move the large chimneys and fireplaces disappeared. The building continued to be operated by the Clough family, including the equally eccentric daughter, Lizzie Clough, as a boarding house for Academy boys. Purchased by the Academy Trustees in 1908 as part of the Seminary real estate deal, it later became the home of Sidney Peet, the Academy Athletic Trainer, Mr. & Mrs. Herbert Fraser and Mr. & Mrs. Scott Paradise.
Blanchard House was moved to the West Quadrangle --- Hidden Field area in 1928 to make room for the Commons; the cost of that move totalled $10,000. The house was rolled down Salem Street and across Main Street where the telegraph and trolley wires were cut to permit its passage. It was settled into its new location by the start of the fall term and has continued to serve as a faculty residence since that time.
The second classroom building was built in 1785 at the southwest corner of the main campus --- about where the Armilary Sphere is now located. The details of this Main Building were presented in Chapter II; its demise occurred on the night of January 30, 1818, exactly thirty-two years after its completion. Being constructed only of wood its total destruction by fire took only twenty minutes.
Prior to this fire the Board of Trustees had ordered a fire engine, had the well checked for use in a firefighting exercise and had authorized Squire Farrar to purchase 100 fire buckets, 6 ladders, 6 firehooks and 4 lightning rods. Fire was a constant danger and major source of destruction in the 18th and 19th century periods --- even more than it is today. The Academy was very active in the fire-fighting activities of the town and manned their own pumper. Many are the tales of fires in the town that were put under control by the Academy boys who were the first to arrive. The old fire pumper survives today and is on display in the lower level of Evans Hall.
The Stone Academy was erected in 1830 on the northeast corner of Main Street and Chapel Avenue. Capt. Reuben Frye of Andover was the mason who built this fourth Academy Main Building. Created for the English Classical School, it was intended to be independent of both the Academy and the Seminary. It did not survive very long as such but became the English Department of Phillips Academy in 1842. A description of this building and its demise by fire on the evening of December 21, 1863, was presented in Chapter II.
Susan E. Jackson, in her "Reminiscences of Andover", states that the student suspected of setting the fire which consumed the Stone Academy was also believed to be responsible for the fire at the Punchard School of the same era. He also tried to shoot Mr. Warren F. Draper during an interrupted burglary of his business at the Brick House. This felon was traced to his home, tried and sentenced to State Prison for his burglar activities; the arson crimes were never proven.
There was a small wooden building located to the rear of the old Stone Academy. It contained one good sized room and had the appearance of a district school house. It was here that Joseph Kimball heard lessons in his classes within the English Department when Dr. Taylor used the Stone Academy for his classical recitations. Unfortunately, no pictures of this edifice identified as such are available in the Academy archives.
The Andover Theological Seminary was formally opened on September 22, 1808, in the South Parish Church with 36 students; the dedication was six days later. The Seminary was administered by the same Trustees as the Academy but this did not imply commonality of the property. A few buildings were shared but for the most part the properties were separated. Unfortunately, the major emphasis of the Trustees was on the Seminary and the Academy suffered and was found wanting. It was many years until the eminence of the Academy rose to that of the Seminary but by the end of the nineteenth century the pendulum had swung. In 1908 the Seminary left "The Hill" for Cambridge and gave first option for its property to the Academy. The sale was consummated at a price of $200,000 and the property went into the Academy's possession on July 1, 1908.
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For the first year of the Seminary's existence --- until Phillips Hall was completed --- the lectures were held in the old Abbot House on Phillips Street. The first building of the Seminary was built by Madame Phoebe Foxcroft Phillips and her son, Col. John Phillips, at the border of a boggy huckleberry lot. Built in 1809 primarily as a dorm for the Seminary students, it was modeled after the dorms at Brown University and cost $16,000. It was constructed of brick with a slate roof. Four stories high, it was divided in the middle with a front and rear entry on each side.
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It contained rooms for a chapel, a library/reading room, thirty studies and accommodation for students. Churchill Memorial Room ---a social and reading room--- was opened significantly later on February 20, 1902.
Samuel Francis Smith, the noted minister and hymnist, wrote "The Morning Light Is Breaking" and "Yes, My Native Land, I Love Thee" in the rear northeast corner, second floor of this building while a student at the Seminary in 1832.
When purchased by the Academy in 1908 to become a dorm, it was badly in need of repairs; some were done that year. In 1911 the building was declared unsafe and it was announced that it was to be torn down. Several pronounced cracks were found in the outside walls and a careful examination was made. The results led the Trustees to decide to abandon the building at once. The foundations had been made entirely of loose stone without the use of any mortar or cement; further, these foundations were at a depth of only 2-1/2 feet --- above the frost line. The bricks used were of a porous quality and as a result the beams and girders used in construction had rotted away completely at all points of contact so that the floors received their support from the thin partition walls. The east wall had been replaced fifty years previously.
It was subsequently determined that this examination was too hasty and further investigation revealed restoration could and should be done. The job was given to Holt Fairchild Co., Boston, who estimated $15,000 for the efforts; it ran to $17,000. The entire east wall was torn out, a new foundation was placed under that wall; the rest of the foundation was strengthened and the stone steps were reset. The building was fortified by tie-rods; the floors were made to rest on new columns and the plumbing was updated. Work was completed in the spring term of 1912 and it housed 28 boys --- 14 on each side. An anonymous donor offered to contribute the sum expended in the restoration if the Trustees would authorize the erection of a suitable tablet indicating the restoration had been completed as a memorial --- this was done.
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The building was named Foxcroft Hall in 1927 following the completion of Samuel Phillips Hall. The fourth story was removed in the summer of 1929 to conform to the architecture of the surrounding buildings and to eliminate a fire hazard.
Further renovations were performed in 1978. The building continues today as a dormitory.
A "Commons" boarding house was erected for the Seminary in 1809; it was located behind Phillips Hall. This "Refectory" was a low, brown, two-story house which had no fireplace or stove. It contained a kitchen, dining room and accommodations for the steward and his family. Early stewards included Mrs. Silence Smith, Daniel Cummings, Nehemiah Abbot and Joseph Emery. The fare was simple, the food was of poor quality and eaten to the accompaniment of selected readings on religious subjects. This "Commons" was abolished in 1845 and the building was moved three years later to the southwest corner of Main and Morton Streets where it is still occupied today as a dwelling.
The next addition to the Seminary (and the Academy) was the Chapel Cemetery. This 240 ft. by 300 ft. piece of land was opened as a burying ground in 1810, was deeded to the Seminary in 1820 and to the Academy Trustees in 1908. It is under the charge of an association which was formed on November 8, 1872, and incorporated on May 17, 1907.
This two acre area contains the graves of trustees, professors, benefactors and members of their families, both of the Seminary and the Academy; of scholars and devines who had made Andover their home; of students who died during their course of study. One of the first to be buried there was Lewis Le Conte Congar, a student who died January 6, 1810. The cemetery includes the graves of Leonard Woods, Moses Stuart, Harriet Beecher Stowe and her 19 year old son, Samuel Farrar, Alfred E. Stearns, Cecil P. F. Bancroft, John Dove and many others.
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Harriet Beecher Stowe's monument, erected by her children in 1897, is an "Iona cross" of Aberdeen granite resting on a sub-base of American granite. It is about 12 feet high and in the form of the Celtic Cross. The inscription reads "A Tribute of Loving Remembrance Erected by Her Children" on the upper portion; on the base are the words "Her Children Rise up and Call Her Blessed". Over the grave of her husband at the left is a recumbent Latin cross of Wellesley granite and at the right is a white marble cross erected to the memory of their son, Henry White Stowe who was drowned at Dartmouth College in 1857. (This white cross has been vandalized in recent years.)
A farm was located at the end of Chapel Avenue, near the cemetery, for many years. During the nineteenth century the Seminary students and some Academy boys used to work on the farm to raise vegetables that were part of the "Commons" fare. In 1839 the facility was billed as "a farm under good cultivation, affording to such as may desire it an opportunity for manual labor, either as a means of preserving health and defraying, in part, the expenses of board, or in connection with an experimental and practical study of the science of Agriculture". It was operated in the 1880's and 90's by a Mr. T. M. Hill.
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Alfred E. Stearns lived there in 1902-03 while serving as Registrar and was followed by Frederick E. Newton, a Math Instructor, from 1904 to 1915. Virgil D. Harrington, Superintendant of Grounds and Buildings and later Purchasing Agent, moved in in 1916 and was the occupant when the main building was moved in 1925 to Bartlet Street (to the future site of the Stowe House) to make room for a parking lot behind George Washington Hall. The house was torn down four years later to make room for the Harriet Beecher Stowe House when it too was moved from Chapel Avenue.
Bartlet Chapel, the middle of the three stately Seminary buildings was designed by Charles Bulfinch. It was included in a list made out by Bulfinch himself where it is designated as "Chapel and Library for Theological Institution". Construction was funded by William Bartlet, a major benefactor of the Seminary who lived in Newburyport; the final cost of the building was $23,374. The dedication, held September 22, 1818, was an event of general town and gown interest. The schools throughout the town were closed and crowds of people attended the exercises. Prof. Ebenezer Porter delivered the sermon for the occasion.
The bricks for the chapel came from Newburyport being hauled over the distance by four oxen. The original building had its door on the left side of the east face and a false door was placed on the right side for uniformity. On the right side of the entry the structure was two storied, the lower room being the chapel, the upper being the library. On the left side there were three stories, each containing a lecture room --- the first was for Seniors, the second for the Middle Class and the third for Juniors. There was a small round cupola on the top of the building.
The original Chapel had bare white walls, high backed pews with doors and an old-fashioned pulpit box. Later pews were of the conventional style shown in the picture below. Mrs. Robbins mentioned the custom of leaving the Chapel at the close of a service one tier of seats at a time. This pattern was necessary since there was but one aisle and the long pews on either side held ten persons. The theologues occupied the back seats on the right of the entrance, the Phillipians those on the left and those on both sides of the pulpit which were at right angles to the body pews.
When first built this edifice was called Bartlet Hall; the name was changed to Bartlet Chapel in 1821 when the second Seminary dormitory was built. Throughout most of the nineteenth century this Chapel was the core and heart center of fundamental Calvinism in America and from its halls went the American missionaries.
The building was reconstructed in 1875 with the modification of the entranceway and the addition of a tower. This renovation provided larger and airier rooms and steam fixtures were installed for heating. A Phillipian article of January 25, 1875, stated: "Renovated Bartlet Chapel now in use". A laundry and bath house was erected behind Seminary Row in conjunction with this modification.
The building was part of the real estate package purchased by the Academy when the Seminary moved to Cambridge. The new owners changed the name to Pearson Hall in honor of Eliphalet Pearson, first Principal of Phillips Academy (1778-1786) and converted it to a recitation building. Classes in Greek, Latin, English and Bible were assigned here.
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In 1922 the building was relocated to its present site and the cupola was restored to its original design; the restoration effort was funded by a member of the Class of 1871. The front wall was rebuilt and completely renovated. The interior of the building was outfitted for four large recitation rooms, two smaller conference rooms, four lavatories and closet space.
The basement of this building has also served in several roles --- as a rifle range, a home for the Model Railroad Club in the 1940's and presently for the storage of records and archives.
The Senior Fence was located in front of Bartlet Chapel when it was located in Seminary Row. It was a favored gathering place for the upper classmen and in 1910 the Faculty voted to allow members of the Senior Class to smoke along this fence from 6 to 8 P.M. each evening. Only those registered as Seniors in the Catalog were allowed to the fence. This fence disappeared and the Senior Terrace was cut back to a width of 25 feet in July 1928. These actions were part of the landscaping efforts which replaced the old stone steps and put a double walk enclosing a wide expanse of green lawn from the steps to the Memorial Gateway --- the Vista.
It was previously mentioned that a laundry and bath house was erected behind Seminary Row in 1875; it remained Seminary property until the move in 1908.
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Sanhedrin, as it was called, was a small brick building located behind Bartlet Hall until the summer of 1922 when it was moved to a location behind the future site of Paul Revere Hall. This building was devoted to use as a music hall as well as the school laundry in its new location. It was razed during the summer of 1929 following completion of Paul Revere Hall.
Legendary tales abound regarding the old oak tree which had been located behind Bartlet Chapel/Pearson Hall. It has been reported that Eliphalet Pearson climbed it in 1807 to enable him to locate the future "divinity college" --- to lay out the general plan of the buildings. This tree was probably removed when Pearson Hall was relocated. It was definitely gone by the time the Vista was created at the end of the 1920 decade.
September 13, 1821, marked the dedication of the third building in Seminary Row. Capt. William Bartlet of Newburyport contributed the cost of $19,574. He referred to it as the "College Edifice which you (the Trustees) were pleased to grant me permission to erect on your grounds for the accommodation of the students of the Theological Institution". The configuration of the four story brick hall included 32 studies, each with two bedrooms attached and each having a fireplace with a broad hearth. Mrs. Bartlet chose the furnishings for the rooms and it was reported that her selection was much better than those picked by Squire Farrar for Phillips Hall.
Elijah Kellog wrote "Spartacus" in the southwest corner room, first story, while a student at the Seminary in 1843. The Seminary bookstore was located in room No. 4 in 1884.
The Academy rented Bartlet Hall from the Seminary in 1906 and 1907 and fitted it up with shower baths, steam heat and other conveniences. It accommodated fifty students in single and double suites and two resident instructors. The Seminary real estate package sold to the Academy in 1908 included Bartlet Hall.
There was a major fire in Bartlet Hall on October 18, 1912. It was confined to two rooms and probably resulted from carelessness. The fire was discovered just after the boys went to supper and was put under control before it could spread much further.
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The building was gutted and partially destroyed by fire two years later on December 8, 1914. The roof was completely destroyed and the upper windows were nearly all broken but the walls were intact. The cause of the fire was never definitely ascertained. It was discovered about 1:30 A.M. in room 14 on the fourth floor of the south entry. It worked its way from this floor through the roof and over the brick firewall to the north side. The Andover Fire Department spent five hours battling the fire and one fireman was knocked unconscious; no boys were hurt. Most all personal belongings were saved except those on the two upper floors on the south side.
The fire and water damage was so extensive that the building had to be essentially rebuilt. Although the brick walls were intact the interior was a scene of devastation. The entire loss was estimated as being about $30,000 --- insurance covered $22,000. Work on the reconstruction began almost immediately to be ready for residence about May 1; rededication took place on Founder's Day, October 1915. The old woodwork was faithfully copied --- the old designs of mantel pieces, panels, wainscotting, casings and ramps were kept. The restored building contained 12 single and 14 double suites. Bathrooms were located on each floor and all sitting rooms had fireplaces. There were two suites again created for resident instructors. Tablets were placed at the foot of the stairways at each entry citing the original donor, the fire and restoration efforts.
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This major conflagration resulted in the reinstitution of an effective firefighting system in the Academy. Over 100 students met early in the term to form a fire company --- repeating the actions performed by their predecessor alumni in the nineteenth century.
The fourth story of Bartlet Hall was removed in the Summer of 1929 to conform to the architecture of the surrounding buildings and to reduce the fire hazard.
In 1824 the Samaritan Female Society of Andover and Vicinity constructed Samaritan House on Chapel Avenue --- at approximately the same site as presently occupied by Cochran Chapel. The Samaritan Society had been founded in April 1817 to provide free medical care for Seminary and Academy students during the frequent epidemics of that era; this house served as the hospital and infirmary for that purpose. The clerk for the construction project was Squire Samuel Farrar.
This building became the residence of Rev. Elias Cornelius, Secretary of the American Board of Foreign Missions, from 1826 to 1831. He was followed by Principal Osgood Johnson who lived there until his death in 1837. His wife Lucretia stayed on after his death and took in students as "table boarders" for many years and cared for invalid students; she received her rent for these actions of kindness. Professor Calvin E. Stowe and his famous wife, Harriet Beecher Stowe, boarded here from 1852 to 1853 during which time she "discovered" the gym next door that she wanted converted to be their home. She also wrote "Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin" while boarding there.
Professor David Y. Comstock lived in Samaritan House from his arrival on the Hill in 1874 until he left in 1892 to found Hotchkiss School. Principal Cecil F. P. Bancroft then made this building the Headmaster's House or Principal's House, a tradition that was followed by Principal Alfred E. Stearns in 1903. Significant alterations were made to the building in 1920 which resulted in a considerable enlargement of the edifice. In the summer of 1929 Samaritan House was moved from Chapel Avenue to School Street to make room for Cochran Chapel; that move of about a hundred yards or so cost $60,208.07. The building continues today in that location as a faculty residence and dormitory.
The Seminary had a stone shell of a building erected on Chapel Avenue in 1828 at a cost of $2891.12. Capt. Reuben Frye, a well known mason of Andover, was the builder and the woodwork was done by David Rice who came to Andover from Newburyport. Samuel Farrar again served as superintendent of this workshop for the "Mechanical Association of the Andover Theological Society", an organization which rented the building from the Trustees. A project of Dr. Elias Cornelius and Prof. Moses Stuart to provide needed recreation and exercise for the students, the association soon became bankrupt with a debt of nearly $1000.
The facility was equipped with benches and tools and the divinity students constructed book and candle boxes, doll cradles, bedsteads, hay rakes, wheelbarrows and all types of wooden items. They also made coffins there --- a pastime which was later discontinued. As was the case with many facilities of that era the workshop was not heated.
After this use as a work area, the building then served for many years as a receptacle for the rubbish which was continuously being collected from the various buildings belonging to the Seminary. About 1850 the Stone House was converted to use as a gymnasium with apparatus there for development of every part of the body.
When Prof. and Mrs. Stowe were boarding at the Samaritan House, she became entranced with the former coffin factory and insisted on having the "Stone Cabin" remodeled for their home. The Seminary allocated $2500 for this purpose and she personally oversaw the renovation efforts. The outside walls were painted with hydraulic cement, new blinds of a freestone color were added as well as a piazza of Italian architecture and a unique fence installed around the front yard.
The Stowes lived there from 1853 to 1864 and during that period Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote "Dred", "Sunny Tales of Foreign Lands", "The Pearl of Orr's Island", "The Minister's Wooing" and "Alice of Sorrento". They had a gift for entertaining which was quite new to the Andover people and they shocked the townspeople with the amusements which they provided for their guests such as tableaux, charades and, on one occasion, a Christmas tree with humorous presents for members of the faculty.
Recitations were held in this building following the burning of the Stone Academy in 1863 and it was used as a student boarding house after the Stowes moved to Hartford in 1864. Following the burning of the Mansion House in 1888 the Stowe House was converted to use as an inn and given the name of the previous hostelry. This new Mansion House was operated by Mr. Charles L. Carter under a lease from the Trustees. He retired in 1893 and was replaced by Mr. E. P. Hitchcock. That same year $22,000 was spent to add a wooden wing on the west side of the building. Subsequent landlords were Charles Ripley (1902-04) and John M. Stewart (1904-28). Eventually the facility was renamed "Phillips Inn."
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In 1929 the Trustees decided to replace this Inn with one of a more modern construction. the wooden frame addition of 1893 was torn down and the Stowe House portion of the complex was moved to 80 Bartlet Street that summer, the Harrington House having been razed to make room for it. This short move cost the Trustees $50,403.50 and the building became a faculty residence and student dormitory. The first faculty residents were Mr. & Mrs. Arthur W. Leonard (1929-1940); they were followed by the Alan R. Blackmer's and the Granville G. Benedict's.
Rev. Ropes served the Seminary as Librarian until 1905 when he was replaced by Rev. Owen H. Gates for the last three years at Andover. A librarian salary had been set in 1810 at $150.00 a year.
The tower underwent repairs in 1888 and in 1908 the building was purchased by the Academy Trustees; all the Seminary books were removed by 1910. The ground floor was rearranged to provide for offices for the Principal, Registrar and Treasurer and their assistants for the 1911-12 school year.
In 1865 John Smith, John Dove and Peter Smith, all prominent businessmen of the town of Andover, donated $60,000 for a library and the establishment of the Smith & Dove Library Fund. The building itself cost $41,000 and was named after their boyhood home of Brechin, Scotland. The architect was Charles A. Cummings of Boston, the mason was Charles Tufts of Andover and the carpenters, H.C. & J.F. Howe of Lowell. Brechin Hall was built of rubble stone from a neighboring quarry with dressings of brick and red Gloucester granite. It was 43 feet wide and 70 feet long exclusive of the turret or tower; the tower was 93 feet high. Dedication of the building was held on August 1, 1866.
The first floor of the new library building contained the Newton Cabinet, the Missionary Museum, the Model of Jerusalem, collections donated by S. Merrill, and a reference library. The second floor was devoted to the Library Room with a 60,000 volume capacity. The first librarian for this facility, appointed in 1866, was Rev. William L. Ropes. The Seminary had had previous Librarians for the meager libraries which were housed in Bartlet Hall; these were:
1808-44 Samuel Farrar
1844-48 Rensellaer D. C. Robbins
1848-51 Rev. Edward Robie
1851-66 Samuel H. Taylor
The Academy Library was moved to Brechin Hall from the second floor facility in the Archaeology Building in late 1911 and flourished under the efforts and perseverance of Archibald Freeman, head of the History Department.
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A small room in one of the alcoves was set off in 1917 to be used by students who desired absolute quiet and also by the Librarian for cataloging and other special work. In late fall 1923 a new system for the synchronization of school bells and clocks was installed by Howard Clock Co. of Boston. A master clock was placed in this Administration Building which controlled the system. Bells were placed in each recitation hall and the clocks of the Tower and the new Main Building were also governed by this system. The Tower clock was made to be the only one which struck the hours. There were no more excuses for exceeding the seven minutes between classes.
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During the late 1920's it was deemed that the architecture of Brechin Hall was no longer in keeping with the various new buildings being erected that decade. Further, it was a block to the intended mall which was to stretch from the Memorial Tower to Cochran Chapel. Consequently, Brechin Hall was torn down in 1929. The first part of the razing was accomplished by undergraduates using a block and tackle.
In 1864 an alumnus pledged $20,000 for the construction of a new chapel but business reverses prevented him from keeping this promise. Eleven years later a subscription was started and there were sufficient pledges obtained from the alumni to make the idea a realism. The result was a Stone Chapel, built in 1875 as a Seminary Church for joint use by the Seminary and the Academy; the final cost was $46,333.24. The cornerstone was laid on July 1, 1875, and dedication of the completed edifice was held on October 2, 1876. The dedication sermon was delivered by Egbert C. Smyth. The outside dimensions were 130 feet including the portico by 53 feet. The steeple in the northwest corner was 128 feet high. There was a square tower on the southeast corner which contained chimneys and a ventilating flue. The chapel accommodated about 500 people but the pews were "not quite comfortable to fall asleep in".
Designed by the Boston firm of Cummings & Sears, the walls and tower were of rubble masonry from West Andover trimmed with a light Ohio stone and red Connecticut sandstone. The low walls and high roof gave it dignity, the three aisles and the absence of any pillars made an impression of spaciousness, the ash furnishings relieved the pulpit and pews from gloominess and the tastefully tinted walls contributed to an atmosphere of restful worship. The arched roof reached 50 feet above the floor. The builders made considerable use of stained glass.
The bell in the tower was a facsimile of the "Independence Bell" in Philadelphia, and was inscribed to the memory of Josiah Bartlett, the first signer of the Declaration of Independence. A new organ was installed in the Chapel in 1887.
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The Stone Chapel became the sole property of the Academy in 1908. It housed the Egleston Memorial Organ, donated in 1908 by Mrs. William C. Egleston of New York as a memorial to her late husband, a member of the class of 1856. The organ was made by The Hall Co. of New Haven. Installation of the larger part, the grand organ, directly behind the pulpit changed the architectural setting of the pulpit materially. The carved woodwork and curtains behind the pulpit were removed and the organ pipes and necessary groundwork formed the background. The pillars and carved woodwork in the arch in front of the old organ were also removed thereby removing the sound obstructions that had existed.
The Stone Chapel was enlarged considerably in 1919; work was started at the end of the summer of that year. This renovation and enlargement was made possible through a generous gift of an alumnus. The chancel end of the building was cut through from roof to basement and the rear wall with its stained glass windows and memorial tablets intact was moved back a distance of 35 feet. When completed in late May 1920, it sat 240 more boys than before. The whole interior was also redecorated during this renovation.
The last gathering in the Stone Chapel was held on the morning of Saturday, June 20, 1931. Dr. Charles H. Forbes conducted services at that time for a small handful of undergraduates still left at the close of the C.E.B. Exams. Dismantling of the building began on the following Monday. The organ was moved to the South Church in Andover where it was dedicated on November 15, 1931.
The sealed metal box placed in the cornerstone on July 1, 1875, was opened by the Trustees on October 8, 1931. The contents included books and papers relating to the Academy, the Seminary, Abbot Academy and the town; catalogs of W. F. Draper, Phillips Academy, and Abbot Academy; a program for the Philomathean Society Exhibition for 1875; a Society of Inquiry program; photos of those connected with both the Academy and the Seminary; a list of donors and newspapers.
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The Elm Arch was a noted attraction of the Seminary and the Academy throughout the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth. Most of the trees for this arch were planted by Samuel Farrar in the early 1800's. The arch started at Salem Street, passed the east end of Brechin Hall, in front of the terrace upon which stood the brick Seminary Row, continued to the Old Stone Chapel where it passed by the front entrance on the west wall and then terminated at Chapel Avenue in a double arch. Dutch Elm disease has taken its toll of these stately remnants of the past and some were felled to complete the Vista in the late 1920's.