Mercersburg Academy - History

History

On March 31, 1836, the Pennsylvania General Assembly granted a charter to Marshall College to be located in Mercersburg. Dr. Frederick Augustus Rauch came from Switzerland to be the first president of the college under the sponsorship of the Reformed Church in America. Dr. Rauch served as president from 1836 until 1841. His successor in the position was John Williamson Nevin who served until 1853, when Marshall College joined with Franklin College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania to become Franklin & Marshall College. At this time, the preparatory department of Marshall College became known as Marshall Academy which later changed to Marshall Collegiate Institute. In 1865, the name was again changed to Mercersburg College, under whose charter the school continues to operate. The historic tie to the church continues through Mercersburg's membership in the Council for Higher Education of the United Church of Christ.

On April 27, 1893, the Board of Regents elected Dr. William Mann Irvine, who had joined Franklin and Marshall College as an instructor after receiving his Ph.D. in Political Science from Princeton University in 1892 (and eventually an LL.D.), to become the Headmaster at the age of twenty-eight. In July, Dr. Irvine changed the name of the institution to Mercersburg Academy and began his work as the founder of the present-day preparatory school. In the fall of 1893, he opened the school with an enrollment of 40 boys, four instructors and 4 acres (16,000 m2) of ground. During Dr. Irvine's tenure, three dormitories, a dining hall, gymnasium, infirmary, administration building and the Chapel were built. A new Main Hall and Annex were built after a fire gutted Old Main in 1927.

After Dr. Irvine's death on June 11, 1928, Dr. Boyd Edwards was elected headmaster, where he remained until he retired in 1941. After his retirement, Dr. Charles S. Tippetts '12 resigned from a deanship at the University of Pittsburgh to become Headmaster, where he remained for twenty years. During this time, Irvine Hall was completed and the James Buchanan cabin was moved onto the campus. His successor was William C. Fowle who came from the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut. Headmaster Fowle's tenure saw Tippetts Hall competed, Boone Hall constructed and Ford Dining Hall constructed. In 1969, Mercersburg again became a co-educational school and racial integration became a reality.

In 1972, Walter H. Burgin Jr. '53 was appointed the Academy's fifth headmaster. Mr. Burgin had been a member and the Chairman of the mathematics department from 1959 to 1964 and was teaching at Phillips Exeter Academy at the time of his appointment. Mr. Burgin oversaw a comprehensive reshaping of the Academy's academic facilities, the building of Lenfest Hall library and the integration of technology into community and classroom life.

Douglas Hale was appointed head of school in 1997, coming from Baylor School where he had been a teacher, assistant headmaster and headmaster since 1973. Under Mr. Hale, all dormitories have been renovated with new faculty apartments added, the entire campus has been connected electronically, and the Smoyer Tennis Center and the Davenport Squash Center were constructed. In 2005, Boone Hall was razed to begin the construction of the new Burgin Center for the Arts, which opened in the fall of 2006. The ceremony was an all-day event and a few of the important guests that attended were Benicio del Toro and Timothy P. Hartung, FAIA, Partner of Polshek Partnership Architects. The opening concert that night featured performances from world-class violinist Itzhak Perlman and the New York City Ballet.