Staff Writer

 When Teri Arenstam was ready to start a second career as a teacher, she hoped it would lead her home to Thornton Academy.

“I knew in my heart of hearts I wanted to teach at Thornton,” the science teacher said. “It just felt like coming home. I had such an affinity for the school.”

Arenstam, a member of the class of 1977, will celebrate the school’s bicentennial this year along with generations of fellow Thornton graduates. Thornton Academy will begin a yearlong celebration of its 200^th anniversary with Founding Day on Feb. 12. Other events this year include a summer festival in June, bicentennial homecoming week next fall and the “Into the Future Gala” in December.

Arenstam, whose three children also graduated from the Saco school, marvels at changes she has seen on campus since the 1970s.

“I thought Thornton Academy was great when I was here, but it’s even better now,” she said. “There’s something for everyone”

Excitement for the bicentennial is starting to grow on campus as students learn more about the school’s history, Arenstam said. Teachers are encouraged to incorporate the school’s history into classroom projects as part of the celebration.

‘Thornton Academy has a really unique history and I don’t think a lot of the students are aware of it,” she said.  “Thornton Academy is more than a school, it’s really a community.”

Bicentennial Coordinator Cathy Coffman said a steering committee began planning the celebrations in fall 2009. The committee created a vision for the celebration then worked on honoring and engaging different segments of the school.

“We wanted to celebrate our place in our communities,” Coffman said.

For Coffman, who has worked at Thornton since 1988, preparation for the event has included pouring over photographs and records that document the school’s history. Historic photos that show generations of past students will be displayed on Founding Day.

Eric Purvis, president of the board of trustees and a 1981 graduate, helped plan the bicentennial.

“It’s really quite an accomplishment to be here 200 years,” he said.

Purvis, who last year presented a diploma to his son, Ian, said he is looking forward to celebrating the milestone with other members of the Thornton community.

“Not only are we educating kids, but we’re part of the center of the community. We’re a gathering place,” Purvis said. “There’s a great pride to be associated with Thornton Academy. There’s a sense of community, there’s a sense of belonging somewhere.”

Thornton Academy’s history begins in 1811, 24 years after the country was formed and nine years before Maine became an independent state. In January 1811, 37 citizens filed a petition with the Massachusetts Legislature to establish an academy in Saco.

Gov. Elbridge Gerry, who later became the country’s fifth vice president, signed the bill to create Saco Academy on Feb. 16, 1811. The bill included an endowment of 6 square miles of a township near Moosehead Lake. The land was later sold for $971.10.

A site for Saco Academy was chosen by late March and work began on a wooden one-room schoolhouse. The academy was dedicated on Jan. 4, 1813, at a site near the Unitarian Universalist Church on School Street.

The academy opened with 50 students who ranged in age from 11 to 27. The students came from a wide area, including Saco, Biddeford, Kennebunkport, Topsham, Wells, Berwick, Dover, N.H., and Rhode Island. Tuition was $3 per quarter and students attended classes year-round. Students who lived outside the area rented rooms at local boarding houses.

By 1821, the school was experiencing financial difficulties and Dr. Thomas G. Thornton, United States marshal for Maine, stepped forward with 10 shares of bank stock valued at $1,000. Coffman said his donation is equivalent to a donation of several million dollars today.

“It was an enormous amount of money,” Coffman said. “In gratitude, the trustees had the name of the school changed by the Legislature to Thornton Academy.”

On Saturday, July 28, 1848, the course of Thornton Academy history changed forever when flames tore through the schoolhouse. Men, women and children lined up to pass buckets of water in an attempt to stop the fire.

“We were startled one evening by the cry of ‘Fire! The academy is on fire!’ and already, before the alarm was given, the flames had made fatal progress,” remembered a student. “…The poor old building was doomed. The falling of timbers moved the bell to toll forth its last message, and the place, that had known so much that was dear in intercourse, enlightening in knowledge, and true in aspiration, had become, for all future, only a tender memory.” 

The account of the fire was published in a commemorative flier that celebrated the school’s centennial.

Though arson was suspected and a $50 reward offered, no one was charged with setting the fire, Coffman said. It was 40 years before Thornton Academy reopened on its current campus. As the school was rebuilt, local students went to class in a newly established Saco High School.

Thornton trustees did not want to reopen the academy in the same location, and instead chose land on the outskirts of the city. Coffman said some people complained the campus was too remote – it sat in the midst of farmland – and students griped about muddy walks to class.

The academy reopened Sept. 6, 1889, in a large brick building that included basement gymnasiums, classrooms, a laboratory and library. When classes began three days later, 108 students walked through the doors of the main building, which still stands today.

Coffman said Thornton grew significantly as the idea of public education took hold across the state. The school signed a 25-year contract with Saco to educate its students beginning in 1889. Dayton students began attending the school shortly after.

As the school population grew, so did the number of classes and clubs offered to students.

Though early Thornton students were more focused on daily recitations and preparing to attend college, tennis was a popular pastime and the first sport played at the school. The TA Lawn Tennis Association formed in 1889 and students played nearly every afternoon.

Thornton fielded its first football team in 1893 and earned the York County champion title. Other sports of the era included track and girls’ gymnastic exhibitions. Gym teacher Louise Leib started the girls’ basketball team in 1897 and the school began playing other teams in 1903. Within a few years, the team beat all its opponents.

Off the playing field, Thornton students developed a wide variety of clubs to explore their interests. In its early years, the secretive Ivy Club included four senior girls.

“The only object yet discovered is for eating caramels and singing college songs,” reported the staff of the school newspaper at the time, the Tripod.

Boys gathered on Sunday evenings for the Jockey Club and, in 1892, girls formed the Musikverien to promote interest in musical composers and their work. The Yums Yums group formed in 1893 to go on moonlight rides, have tea parties, chew tutti frutti and tell stories. The Mandolin Club formed in 1903 and male students gave concerts.

During war years, Thornton students set aside entertainment to help with the war effort, Coffman said. The class of 1917, which graduated two months after the start of World War I, gave the school a $50 liberty bond instead of the traditional statuary gift. At least nine boys from the class enlisted in the military after graduation.

Girls held knitting parties after school to make quilts for people who served overseas, started gardens and formed canning clubs. Boys signed pledge cards with the YMCA to raise money for the war fund. Students also put 1-cent stamps on old magazines and sent them to soldiers.

During World War II, Thornton became the civilian defense center in Saco. There were fewer dances and parties on campus, but students formed new clubs to help with the war effort. The 90 Per Centers formed to promote  War Savings Stamps. Y Club members raised money, sewed children’s clothes and made surgical dressings.

A total of 95 boys from the classes of 1943, 1944 and 1945 joined the service, including some who left before graduation. Headmaster Hollis Sanderson also left Thornton to serve in the Red Cross overseas.

After the war, students again focused on schoolwork and creating fun clubs. Over the next several decades, the school and its offerings continued to grow and evolve as new generations of Thornton students arrived on campus.

Headmaster Carl Stasio, who came to Thornton 25 years ago, said it is amazing to think about the growth of the school over the past 200 years. The school now serves about 1,430 students from Saco, Dayton, Arundel and other southern Maine communities. The school also has 52 international students in its boarding program, with more expected when a second residential hall opens in July.

Stasio credits much of the growth on campus – both in buildings and programs – to the support of alumni through the philanthropic Thornton Fund. 

“Without the wonderful spirit of giving back, Thornton would not be what it is today,” Stasio said.

Stasio said campus development is done to best benefit students and honor the school’s history.

“Our kids treasure the beauty of the school,” Stasio said. “We try to build buildings of character that fit in with the school and make people proud.”

Stasio, who plans to retire in 2012, said being Thornton’s headmaster “is the job I always wanted without knowing what it was.”

“I feel so grateful to have had this job for the past 25 years. The support I’ve had from colleagues over the years, and from the remarkable teachers, trustees, students and parents, is more than I could have expected,” he said.

Stasio said he hopes the Thornton community will turn out in force to celebrate the bicentennial and “the school they’ve really helped build. It’s going to be wonderful.”