Academy Hill

From WakWiki

Academy Hill is the historic name for the small hill immediately to the east of Wakefield Square, between Main Street and Vernon Street. The name is rarely used today, and indeed is probably unknown to most current residents. The hill is only about 30 feet higher than the surrounding area, and its highest elevation, located approximately at the intersection of Eaton and Pleasant Streets, is about 130 feet above sea level. The northern part of the hill centered on the intersection of Salem and Pleasant Streets was once known as Fitch's Hill after the first owner of the lands on either side of Salem Street (then called Fitch's Lane).

Academy Hill gets its name from the South Reading Academy, built in 1828-1829 on the site where the Lincoln School now stands. The structure was originally used as a church meeting house and a school for young men. It was connected to nearby Eaton Street, to the north, by a narrow alley known as Academy Street (now Eaton Court). The town purchased the building in 1847 and used it as its first public high school until 1871. In 1891 the building was moved to its current location at 7 Foster Street where it was subsequently used over the years by various fraternal organizations, the Methodist church, and as a restaurant. It currently houses commercial office space.

The Academy Hill Center School, built in 1853 adjacent and just to the south of the existing Academy, was also moved in 1891 to make way for the new Lincoln School. It was relocated a few hundred yards away to the corner of Crescent and Mechanic (now Princess) Streets to be used as a new fire station. The building burned in the spectacular Hathaway Stable fire of 1899, which destroyed eighteen buildings in the area of Mechanic, Crescent, and Lincoln Streets.

The brick Romanesque Revival style Lincoln School was constructed in 1892, one of four schools built in the last two decades of the 19th century. The building is how used for elderly housing under the aegis of the Wakefield Housing Authority.

References

• Wakefield : 350 years by the lake : an anniversary history / compiled by the Wakefield 350 Writing Committee ; edited by Nancy Bertrand, 1994, p55 and pp251-256.
• Photograph of Academy buildings in Wakefield : 350 years by the lake : an anniversary history / compiled by the Wakefield 350 Writing Committee ; edited by Nancy Bertrand, 1994, p252.
• Photograph of Academy buildings in Wakefield (Images of America series) / by Nancy Bertrand, 2000, p106.
• Beebe Library catalog record for former South Reading Academy
• Beebe Library catalog record for Lincoln School