The Bloomfield Academy

The Bloomfield Academy. . In 1853 a group of Bloomfield citizens organized the Bloomfield Educational Society for the purpose of establishing a "First Class Literary Institution in Bloomfield." In 1854 the directors purchased land for a building site and in 1855 the Missouri General Assembly officially recognized the Society. The Society initiated fund raising efforts, advertised for teachers and on February 10, 1860 announced plans for a new school., On August 6, 1860 the Bloomfield Academy opened for business with over one hundred students and three instructors. Principal Caleb Crumb and his wife Sarah Jane had moved from upstate New York and joined Martha Owen Walker from Bloomfield to make ups the first faculty. By May of 1861 Principal Crumb recorded that the Academy had experienced a "good orderly" school year and they were looking forward to a promising future, in spite of troubling news from Charleston, South Carolina and St. Louis, Missouri. Few imagined what was about to happen in Stoddard County and the United States., Before the new school year was scheduled to open in late August of 1861, the Civil War came to Bloomfield and the Academy was taken over by General Jeff Thompson and the troops of the Missouri State Guard. General Thompson initiated a military campaign to seize Fredericktown, Missouri and in anticipation of casualties ordered, "I want that colledge building, every room in it, prepared for the reception of the sick and wounded." Principal Caleb moved the Academy to the Baptist Church and, "commenced school on my own account." , (Continued on other side). , (Back):(Continued from other side). , By the spring of 1862 the school was again occupied by soldiers, now in blue uniforms. Captain Henry Eggleston of the 1st Wisconsin Cavalry took possession of the Academy which he described as two acres in size, surrounded by a high board fence, with at one time, beautiful flower gardens which were all trampled. "It is too bad," he added. "But such is war.", Several of the male students of that first school joined the Confederate army. These included Bartlett, Carter, Cryts, Harty, Kitchen, McClain, McDoniel, Miller, Poplin, and Welch. Teacher Martha Owen Walker and her cousin and student, Laura V. Robinson, were both accused of spying for the Confederates, yet both later married Union officers. Principal and Mrs. Crumb sent their two teenage sons back to New York for the duration of the war., For four chaotic years of war, the Academy and its grounds were abused and neglected. The town changed hands more than twenty times. By 1865 the Academy stood alone among the ruins and ashes of the once proud town. On April 7, 1890 the property was sold for $100.00. The dream of a "first class literary institution" was gone with the winds of war. , Sponsored by the Mayo Family of Stoddard County.