Happy 215th Birthday, Friends Academy!
On Sept. 9, 1810 — 215 years ago today — six members of the Society of Friends established and endowed “an Institution for the instruction of Friends’ Children.” This was the beginning of Friends Academy 
According to founding documents, the school was to teach children “Languages, Mathematics, and Philosophy, and such other branches of useful Literature, as hereafter, upon experiment, may be found within the compass and means of the Institution to usefully teach.”
The first Friends Academy students began their studies in 1811 in this two-story wooden building, located on the corner of County and Elm streets in New Bedford.
As we commemorate 215 years of Friends Academy, look out for more special peeks into our past taken from the book 200 Years & Still Friends by former FA teacher Kathleen Fair. Below is an excerpt from the book about the school’s founding:
