The Ste. Genevieve Academy was a school in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. The first publicly chartered school in the Louisiana Territory, it is now a contributing property within the Ste. Genevieve National Historic Landmark District.
Documentary history The early French settlers of the town, led by their cosmopolitan Irish pastor, maintained a detailed journal that outlined the activities of the academy's trustees from its early planning stages in 1807 through the construction, operation, and the closing of the school in 1861.
General Firmin A. Rozier and his children lived in the Old Academy from 1862 until Tom Rozier's death in the late 1930s. They maintained the mansion as a museum, preserving hundreds of documents for the historic record. Most of this documentary evidence found its way into the hands of the building's caretakers.
Beginnings A list of financial backers or 'subscribers' was compiled by Father James Maxwell in July 1807 to establish the first school publicly charted by the government of the Louisiana Territory. This list of subscribers included the Chouteau family of St. Louis as well as the leading families of Ste. Genevieve, New Bourbon, and the lead mining districts around present day Ironton, Missouri. These wealthy families promised to pay $1,904 in cash and $814 in materials for the "building of a suitable house for an Academy" to be located in the Town of Ste. Genevieve.Journal of the Ste. Genevieve Academy, July 1807, Western Historical Manuscript Collection, University of Missouri, Columbia.
The first meeting of the subscribers took place at the home of Joseph Pratte in Ste. Genevieve, Saturday, September 26, 1807. A 21-member Board of Trustees was elected from this group and a constitution was created to govern the future "Louisiana Academy". Father James Maxwell was chosen chairman of the Academy's Board of Trustees. President Thomas Jefferson appointed the Catholic priest to the Louisiana Territory's first Legislative Assembly. Maxwell later presided over its first session.
In his capacity as Curate of Ste. Genevieve and Vicar General of Upper Louisiana, Reverend Maxwell made frequent visits to St. Louis. Maxwell's home was in New Bourbon and he regularly visited the mining districts further south.
The concept of an Academy teaching both English and French in a French-speaking territory was Maxwell's work. If his congregation was to thrive under the United States government it was imperative that its children learn to conduct business in the English language. This was the central purpose of Maxwell's Academy. It is also likely that Maxwell inserted into the constitution the Jeffersonian concept of educating the poor and Indian children alongside the sons of the great planters and merchants. No other person in Upper Louisiana had the universal prestige to garner support for such a scheme and carry the concept through to fruition.
Plans to construct new building In December 1807, the inaugural meeting of the trustees of the Louisiana Academy took place at the home of Joseph Pratte. By the following January, the trustees had appointed a committee to prepare architectural plans for the construction of a "suitable building" and also make initial inquiries as to a possible building site.Journal of the Ste. Genevieve Academy, December 1807, Western Historical Manuscript Collection, University of Missouri, Columbia. This committee consisted of Maxwell, Pratte, and Judge Otho Shrader.
The trustees requested that the United States government provide them with suitable land for their proposed school. When Congress failed to act, the trustees purchased four arpents of land near the town of Ste. Genevieve from John Price for the sum of $100. The property was situated outside the northwest boundary of the town on a hilltop, which enjoys a panoramic view of Ste. Genevieve, the Mississippi River, and the surrounding countryside.
The land the trustees acquired was originally owned by Louis Champaigne. There was serious concern regarding the possibility of a clouded title. Maxwell resolved this issue by personally warranting the title against all claims except that of the United States government. Thus, by March 1808, the way was finally cleared for breaking ground.
Maxwell was the driving force behind the development of this school. He decided the setting and style of the academy building. Maxwell had been born and reared in 18th-century Ireland and educated at the University of Salamanca, in Spain.
Challenges securing funds The trustees meeting of March 1808 determined that funds thus far collected from the subscribers were not sufficient for the construction of a two-story stone house measuring 50 ft. long by 25 ft. wide. A plan was adopted to reduce the size of the initial construction to 31 ft. by 25 ft. and enlarge the building to 50 ft. by 25 ft. when more funds were available. The treasurer was instructed by the trustees to call upon each subscriber to pay one-half their pledged contribution immediately and the balance within three months. The continued operation of this school was threatened for years to come by collection difficulties.
Plans for the academy and the use of stone in construction were unanimously approved by the trustees in March 1808. The building site was selected by Maxwell, Timothy Phelps, and Vital St. Gemme Beauvais. Blue limestone was only available from the mine developed by the French army east of Fort de Chartres. This mine supplied the huge quantities of stone required for building of the stone fort in 1751. Evidence suggests that the stone used in construction was salvaged on flatboats from the ruins of Fort de Chartres, which was abandoned in 1772. After the great flood of 1785, Fort de Chartres lay in complete ruins. Mountains of free building materials were available for the taking. Ox carts could easily carry the salvaged stone from the flatboats up academy hill to the building site less than one-half mile from the levee.
Updated plans At the May 1808 meeting of the trustees, the building committee, chartered by Maxwell, reported that the plan to build only two-thirds of the building now and later complete the task was unwise. It was determined that: "by adding a new wall to the one that was some time before build will in course shrink below the old work and thereby ruin the whole."Journal of the Ste. Genevieve Academy, May 1808, Western Historical Manuscript Collection, University of Missouri, Columbia. As a result, the trustees voted unanimously to "carry u"' the whole building but "only cover that part of the building that was designed to be completed at a future day."
Since dendrochronology dates all of the first floor joists to 1808,Richard Guyette and Osmund Overby. "Tree Ring Dating" in Historic American Buildings Survey of Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. National Archives: 1984.. it is assumed that two rooms of the Academy's second floor remained somewhat unfinished until the repairs of 1818 and the reopening of the academy by the French Christian Brothers.
Public charter The Louisiana Territorial Legislature unanimously approved the incorporation of a charter creating the Ste. Genevieve Academy on June 21, 1808, making the school the first public institution of higher education created in the Louisiana Territory. It is also the first school incorporated by the United States west of the Mississippi.
The Act of Incorporation was passed in the final year of Jefferson's second term. It reflects many of Jefferson's ideals. However, because of financial restraints and the premature death of the school's founde, they were never completely enacted.
Construction On August 3, 1808, William Shannon, a trustee of the academy, and a builder by trade, signed a contract to build the academy. Shannon had also been born and reared in Ireland. The architectural style of the scademy building was under the total control and influence of Maxwell and Shannon. The academy was constructed in the new Federal style and it also shows an influence from the Irish country houses of their day.
The construction contract signed by Shannon calls for: "the whole of mason work on said Academy to be completely finished, in a workman like manner by the first day of December next."Western Historical Manuscript Collection, University of Missouri, Columbia.
The Trustees agreed to pay $900 to William Shannon for the masonry work. This reflected the cost of labor only, for the trustees supplied all of the materials. One-half of Shannon's payment was to be in cash and the balance in lead at the current rate of exchange. Shannon was to receive one-half of the payment two months after work commenced and the remaining balance upon completion of the project.
In December 1808, the academy board of trustees authorized the board's collector to receive lead from subscribers in lieu of cash at the rate of $5 per one hundred pounds, if the lead was paid to the collector within ten days. However, another eighteen months passed before sufficient funds were available to pay Shannon for the remainder of his fee.
1809 Smallpox epidemic Several months later, a smallpox epidemic swept through Ste. Genevieve. It was believed that the disease was brought in town from infected persons on flatboats traveling the Mississippi and docking in town. By 1802, smallpox vaccination was available in Ste. Genevieve. Very few people took advantage and were vaccinated. As a result, the disease ravaged the town and delayed the opening of the academy. Nevertheless, on August 30, 1809, the trustees authorized the collector of the Town of Ste. Genevieve to file suit against subscribers who had not made full payment in "money, lead, or produce".Journal of the Ste. Genevieve Academy, August 1809, Western Historical Manuscript Collection, University of Missouri, Columbia.
Further financial difficulties There is evidence that Maxwell completed work on the Academy not approved by the board of trustees and personally guaranteed payment. On March 1, 1810, the trustees heard the auditor's reports and found that the accounts of the building committee, chaired by Maxwell, were in a shambles. Maxwell had ordered finishing work on the academy that had not been approved by the board and had given his personal guarantee for payment. This was against the bylaws of the board of trustees and it was adopted that from that moment forward a strict enforcement of financial procedures would be observed. It is doubtful that Maxwell paid any heed to this directive. The board's only recourse was to collect past due subscriber accounts. George Bullett, a trustee, was appointed to collect accounts in the lead mining districts, and Elias Austin Elliott was appointed to complete a similar task in St. Louis.
Daniel Barry was approved by the trustees to preside as teacher of the Ste. Genevieve Academy on April 24, 1810. Barry agreed to: "undertake to teach English, French, Latin, Greek, Mathematics, Arithmetic, Surveying, Logic, Metaphysics, Geography, History, Natural and Moral Philosophy, agreeably to a prospectus already exhibited; for the sum of 1,100 dollars for the first year ye will superintend the education of 45 students.Journal of the Ste. Genevieve Academy, April 1810, Western Historical Manuscript Collection, University of Missouri, Columbia.
It appears that Barry left after one year because on March 20, 1811, the board of trustees examined the qualifications of a Mr. Curtis as teacher for the academy. The board found nothing against Mr. Curtis' character, but felt he was not qualified to teach the different branches of education demanded by the trustees.